Copyrights
All information on Erowid.org is provided non-commercially for purposes of teaching, scholarship, research, and criticism. We provide authorship information whenever possible as well as links to original material if it exists on the web. Much of the information has been written by Erowid or approved for inclusion by its author(s). Some excerpts, quotes, and text are used under the fair use doctrine. If you know the author or photographer of an unlabelled writing or photo in our collection, or if we are using writings or photos of yours without permission, please let us know and we'll add credits or remove the piece as you choose.
Requests for permission to use documents or images from Erowid should be sent to copyrights@erowid.org. Please be sure to provide the information requested below in your email.
Following is a list of types of uses (personal, academic, non-commercial, commercial) and types of information (excerpts, full texts, images) that we are most frequently asked about. It should serve as a guideline for what qualifies as appropriate use of information found in the Vaults. If you meet the requirements, there are certain types of use which do not requre specific permission, but we request that you send us a one or two sentence email letting us know where or how you're using the information.
All html, layout and design for documents found at Erowid are copyright Erowid unless otherwise specified. Please don't copy large portions of Erowid onto your own site...It's not that much to ask :)
The writings and images found at Erowid fall into two categories: those written by Erowid (or used by Erowid with permission of the author), and those used under the fair use doctine without specific permission of the author. You can generally tell whether we hold copyright permission for an article by looking at the author information under the title and also in the bottom right corner of the page you're interested in. It should identify whether the file was created by Erowid and/or whether it is used with or without the permission of the author. If you can't determine which category a piece fits into, send us a quick message and we'll try to help you out.
If the top of the page or the bottom right corner of the page says "used with permission", or "by Erowid", then Erowid holds the copyright on, or has received permission to publish the document from the author. If Erowid holds the copyright on the page or information you are interested in, then the following guidelines should help.
If you are interested in using images which appear in our Image Vaults, the first thing to do is determine who holds the copyright. Many images are specifically labelled in the index as to who is the photographer and who holds the copyright. If there is a link to the original source, please contact the photographer rather than us. If the image is from a book, we cannot give you permission to use it as we do not hold the copyright. If the image is labelled "copyright Erowid", or does not give copyright information, send us an email specifying the URL of the image you're interested in using as well a description of how you would be using the image, and we'll let you know whether or not you can use it.
You can usually tell whether we hold copyright permission for an article by looking in the bottom right corner of the page...it should say "used by Erowid with (or without) permission of the author". Writings such as journal, magazine, and newspaper articles are generally used by us under the fair use doctrine without specific permission of the authors. If the page you are interested in says "used without permission", we do not have the authority to grant you permission to use it.
Most citation styles now include a standard format for web documents. This format can be modified to fit articles by a single author, an anonymous author, or a "corporate" author (such as Erowid itself). See our page on citation formats for examples.
Requests for permission to use documents or images from Erowid should be sent to copyrights@erowid.org. Please be sure to provide the information requested below in your email.
Trademark
"Erowid" is a registered trademark ® of Erowid.Requesting Permission to Use Content
- Identifying Who Holds the Copyright
- Content Copyrighted by Erowid
- Images
- Content Used by Erowid Without Specific Permission
- Citation Format
- Further Information on the Fair Use Doctrine
- Free-Use License Material (FreeBSD / Apache)
Following is a list of types of uses (personal, academic, non-commercial, commercial) and types of information (excerpts, full texts, images) that we are most frequently asked about. It should serve as a guideline for what qualifies as appropriate use of information found in the Vaults. If you meet the requirements, there are certain types of use which do not requre specific permission, but we request that you send us a one or two sentence email letting us know where or how you're using the information.
All html, layout and design for documents found at Erowid are copyright Erowid unless otherwise specified. Please don't copy large portions of Erowid onto your own site...It's not that much to ask :)
The writings and images found at Erowid fall into two categories: those written by Erowid (or used by Erowid with permission of the author), and those used under the fair use doctine without specific permission of the author. You can generally tell whether we hold copyright permission for an article by looking at the author information under the title and also in the bottom right corner of the page you're interested in. It should identify whether the file was created by Erowid and/or whether it is used with or without the permission of the author. If you can't determine which category a piece fits into, send us a quick message and we'll try to help you out.
If the top of the page or the bottom right corner of the page says "used with permission", or "by Erowid", then Erowid holds the copyright on, or has received permission to publish the document from the author. If Erowid holds the copyright on the page or information you are interested in, then the following guidelines should help.
- (Single instance, non-commercial)
- Feel free to print copies of pages at Erowid on paper for personal reference. We might suggest writing "Erowid.org" on them (or simply retaining the headers) so you and others can tell where they came from.
- (Single instance or low distribution, non-commercial)
- Experience Reports- Experience reports are copyrighted by Erowid Center. Authors have permission to use their own reports as they wish. Researchers and authors may NOT "mine", distill, or use aggregate data from Experience Vaults without prior permission. Publishing data analysis (in journals, books, articles, online, in presentations, or in any other form) without permission is in violation of the usage agreement of this website. Please contact us at copyrights@erowid.org to discuss projects and crediting requirements. We generally agree to such use, but Erowid is improperly cited and credited by most people who use this data. We're rectifying this by requiring prior permission.
- Quotes, excerpts, or partial texts- Quotes and excerpts may be used as long as they are less than 500 words combined and are cited in a footnote or bibliography entry with full credit given to the author as well as to Erowid. (See sample citation formats)
- Images & Charts- May be used in papers as long as the identifying footer of the image remains intact. Ideally images would also be given an entry in the credits, bibliography, or footnotes of a paper.
- Full texts- Please request permission by email. Specify the url of each text you are interested in and give a description of the publication you would like to use it in.
- (No physical distribution, non-commercial)
- Quotes, excerpts, or partial texts- Credit should be given, in the presentation, both to the author as well as to Erowid. (See sample citation formats)
- Images & Charts- May be used in visual presentations as long as either the identifying footer of the image remains intact or the photographer/author and Erowid.org are credited visually . If credits for the presentation are also being included elsewhere (for instance at the end of the presentation, or in print), Erowid should be included.
- Full texts- Please request permission by email. Specify the url of each text you are interested in and give a description of how you would like to use them.
- (multi-instance, non-commercial)
- Quotes, excerpts, or partial texts- Should be cited in a footnote or bibliography entry with full credit given to the author as well as to Erowid. (See sample citation formats)
- Images & Charts- Please request permission by email. Specify the url of each image you are interested in, give a description of the publication where it would be used, and include an estimate of how many copies will be distributed.
- Full texts- Please request permission by email. Specify the url of each text you are interested in give a description of the publication where it would be used, and include an estimate of how many copies will be distributed.
- (multi-instance, commercial, anything charged for)
- Please request permission by email for all commercial uses of any articles, documents, or images at Erowid. Specify the url of each piece you are interested in and give a description of the publication you are interested in using it in.
- (anything commercial)
- There are many types of projects which do not fit within the above definitions, but which are commercial. In general, any project which charges money for the resulting publication or presentation is considered commercial. Likewise, projects which have a budget, are paying for content, or are paying individuals to work on the project may also be subject to a use fee. If the project you are working on could be considered commercial, please request permission by email. Specify the url of each piece you are interested in and give a description of how the documents or images would be used.
- (multi-instance, uncontrolled)
- Quotes, excerpts, or partial texts- Should have a text comment on the page where the information appears, noting the author and Erowid as the source and linking it to the original url at Erowid.
- Images- Please request permission by email. Specify the url of each image you are interested in and the url and description of the site you'd like to use it on.
- Full Texts- Please request permission by email. Specify the url of each text you are interested in and give a description of the site you are interested in using it on.
If you are interested in using images which appear in our Image Vaults, the first thing to do is determine who holds the copyright. Many images are specifically labelled in the index as to who is the photographer and who holds the copyright. If there is a link to the original source, please contact the photographer rather than us. If the image is from a book, we cannot give you permission to use it as we do not hold the copyright. If the image is labelled "copyright Erowid", or does not give copyright information, send us an email specifying the URL of the image you're interested in using as well a description of how you would be using the image, and we'll let you know whether or not you can use it.
You can usually tell whether we hold copyright permission for an article by looking in the bottom right corner of the page...it should say "used by Erowid with (or without) permission of the author". Writings such as journal, magazine, and newspaper articles are generally used by us under the fair use doctrine without specific permission of the authors. If the page you are interested in says "used without permission", we do not have the authority to grant you permission to use it.
Most citation styles now include a standard format for web documents. This format can be modified to fit articles by a single author, an anonymous author, or a "corporate" author (such as Erowid itself). See our page on citation formats for examples.