This policy establishes the principles governing copyright ownership, publication rights, open access licensing, author reuse, third-party materials, attribution, and the subsequent dissemination of research published in CPRT. It is intended to provide authors, readers, libraries, repositories, and other users with clear information about their respective rights and responsibilities.

The policy applies to original scholarly content published by the journal, subject to any separately identified copyright or licensing arrangements for third-party materials. It should be read alongside CPRT's Open Access Policy, Publication Ethics Policy, and applicable author publishing agreements.

Copyright Ownership

Authors retain copyright in their original scholarly works published in CPRT. Publication in the journal does not require the transfer of copyright ownership to CPRT or its publisher. Authors remain the copyright holders of their original contributions, except where copyright is held by another authorised rights holder under applicable law or an existing agreement.

Upon acceptance and agreement to publication, authors grant CPRT a non-exclusive right of first publication, including permission to:

• Publish the article: Prepare, reproduce, and publish the accepted scholarly work in electronic and other appropriate publication formats.
• Identify the publication: Present CPRT as the original journal of publication and include the relevant bibliographic and publication metadata.
• Disseminate the work: Distribute and make the published article available through the journal website, scholarly repositories, discovery services, and other legitimate publication channels.
• Maintain the scholarly record: Preserve, reproduce, and make available the publication record, including appropriate corrections, updates, and related notices.

Authors also authorise the distribution of their published original contributions under CC BY 4.0. This public licence operates independently of copyright ownership and permits third parties to exercise the reuse rights granted by the licence.

The journal's non-exclusive publishing rights do not prevent authors from reusing their own original work or entering into subsequent publication arrangements, provided that they respect applicable rights, properly acknowledge the original publication, and comply with any relevant third-party obligations. Once material has been validly released under CC BY 4.0, the public licence is not revocable for users who continue to comply with its conditions.

Licensing Terms

All articles published in CPRT are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), except for separately credited materials that are expressly excluded from the article's licence.

Under this licence, users are permitted to:

• Share: Copy and redistribute the licensed material, in whole or in part, in any medium or format.
• Adapt: Remix, transform, translate, annotate, and build upon the licensed material.
• Use commercially: Reproduce or adapt the licensed material for commercial as well as non-commercial purposes.
• Redistribute: Incorporate the licensed material into educational resources, research collections, databases, and other publications.

Exercise of these rights is subject to the following conditions:

• Appropriate attribution: Users must acknowledge the original creator or creators and other designated attribution parties, as required by the licence.
• Licence information: Users must identify the applicable CC BY 4.0 licence and include its text or a link to it, in a manner appropriate to the medium.
• Indication of changes: Users must disclose modifications and retain an indication of previous modifications where required.
• Retention of notices: Applicable copyright notices, licence notices, disclaimers, and source links supplied with the original material must be retained as required by the licence.
• No implied endorsement: Attribution must not suggest that the original authors, the journal, or the publisher endorse the user or the particular reuse.
• No additional restrictions: Users must not impose legal terms or technological measures that prevent others from exercising rights granted by the licence.

Attribution may be provided in any reasonable manner appropriate to the medium and context of reuse, provided the applicable licence requirements are satisfied. Permissions granted under CC BY 4.0 do not override rights held by third parties or legal requirements relating to privacy, publicity, moral rights, or other matters outside the scope of the licence.

The official Creative Commons licence text governs the legal interpretation of CC BY 4.0. The summary provided on this page is intended to explain the journal's publishing arrangements and does not replace or modify the licence.

Author Rights

CPRT supports authors' continuing rights to disseminate, preserve, and reuse their original scholarly contributions. Authors retain the ability to share and develop their published research without seeking additional permission from the journal for uses consistent with the applicable publishing agreement and rights held by third parties.

Authors may:

• Repository deposit: Deposit the published Version of Record in institutional, disciplinary, and other scholarly repositories.
• Personal and institutional sharing: Make articles available on personal websites, departmental pages, institutional profiles, and academic platforms.
• Educational distribution: Reproduce and distribute their original scholarly contributions for teaching, research, academic discussion, and other lawful purposes.
• Subsequent publications: Incorporate their original material into future books, edited collections, revised studies, and related scholarly publications, with appropriate acknowledgement of the original publication.
• Research development: Translate, expand, revise, or otherwise develop their original arguments and research for subsequent scholarly activities.

Authors are encouraged to include the complete bibliographic reference and a link to the official publication record or DOI when redistributing their research. Subsequent publications incorporating previously published material should identify the original source and distinguish new analysis from material published earlier.

Third-Party Material

Authors are responsible for ensuring that material incorporated into their manuscripts is used lawfully and appropriately attributed. The copyright and licensing arrangements governing original articles do not automatically extend to material owned or controlled by third parties.

This responsibility is particularly important in comparative philosophy and religious studies, where research may incorporate historical manuscripts, translated philosophical works, religious texts, visual representations, archival documents, unpublished correspondence, and materials associated with culturally significant traditions.

Third-party materials may include:

• Photographs, illustrations, diagrams, tables, maps, and other visual materials.
• Extended quotations or substantial extracts from copyrighted publications.
• Modern translations, critical editions, annotations, and commentaries.
• Digitised archival materials, manuscript reproductions, and documentary collections subject to relevant rights.
• Previously published datasets, charts, research instruments, and other materials with separate licensing conditions.

Where third-party materials are incorporated, authors must:

• Verify the copyright or licensing status of the material.
• Obtain written permission when permission is legally required and no applicable exception or existing licence authorises the intended use.
• Provide accurate acknowledgements identifying the relevant creators, translators, editors, rights holders, and sources, as appropriate.
• Identify any separate licensing arrangements or restrictions applicable to the material.
• Supply evidence of permission or applicable authorisation when requested by the editorial office.

Material excluded from the article's CC BY 4.0 licence must be identified through an appropriate credit line or rights notice. Users wishing to reuse such material must comply with the rights governing that material, unless their intended use is permitted by law or another applicable licence.

Attribution Requirements

Appropriate attribution is a central condition of CC BY 4.0 and an important principle of responsible scholarly communication. Individuals and organisations reusing CPRT publications must comply with the applicable licence requirements and should provide sufficient bibliographic information to allow readers to identify and locate the original scholarly work.

For academic citation and redistribution, CPRT recommends including the following information wherever relevant and available:

• Name of the original author or authors and any other designated attribution parties.
• Full title of the article or scholarly work.
• Journal title: Comparative Philosophy and Religious Traditions.
• Year of publication and applicable volume and issue information.
• Article DOI or stable publication URL, where available.
• Identification of the CC BY 4.0 licence and a link to its official terms.
• An indication of modifications, translations, or adaptations when changes have been made.

These recommendations combine licence-compliance information with conventional scholarly citation elements. The CC BY 4.0 licence itself permits attribution in any reasonable manner appropriate to the medium and circumstances of reuse; it does not universally require every bibliographic element listed above.

Authors and users preparing translations, adaptations, or derivative scholarly works should clearly identify the relationship between the new work and the original publication. Any alterations to arguments, terminology, translations, illustrations, or interpretations should not be attributed misleadingly to the original author.

Proper academic citation and compliance with an open licence serve related but distinct purposes. Scholarly references support traceability and intellectual integrity, while the licence establishes the legal conditions governing authorised reuse. Both should be respected when CPRT publications are incorporated into subsequent research.

License Compatibility and Reuse

The CC BY 4.0 licence enables published research to circulate through a broad range of academic, educational, cultural, and information environments. Subject to the applicable licence conditions and separately held rights, CPRT publications may be incorporated into subsequent scholarly activities without additional permission from the journal.

Examples of permitted reuse include:

• Academic databases and repositories: Inclusion in scholarly discovery platforms, institutional repositories, and digital research collections.
• Teaching and educational resources: Incorporation into course readers, learning materials, classroom resources, and educational publications.
• Translation and adaptation: Translation into other languages, preparation of annotated versions, and adaptation for different scholarly or educational contexts.
• Subsequent research: Incorporation into comparative studies, literature reviews, research syntheses, and other scholarly publications.
• Public dissemination: Reproduction and distribution through legitimate cultural, educational, and public-facing information channels.

CC BY 4.0 does not impose a general ShareAlike requirement. Adaptations may be distributed under different terms, provided that those terms do not prevent recipients from complying with CC BY 4.0 in relation to the underlying licensed material. Users must continue to provide required attribution and comply with any other applicable licence conditions.

Reuse of published scholarship must also respect applicable third-party rights and the distinction between the original scholarly contribution and subsequent interpretations or adaptations. Permission under CC BY 4.0 does not confer ownership of the original work or authorise a user to represent a modified version as an unchanged original publication.

The journal encourages institutions and information services that redistribute CPRT articles to retain accurate publication metadata, applicable licence statements, and links to the original publication record wherever practicable.

Commitment to Open Scholarship

CPRT regards author copyright retention and open licensing as complementary foundations of responsible scholarly publishing. By preserving authors' intellectual property rights while enabling broad access and reuse, the journal seeks to strengthen the circulation and long-term intellectual value of research in comparative philosophy and religious studies.

Through this policy, the journal supports:

• Academic freedom: Protecting authors' continuing rights to use, share, and develop their original scholarly contributions.
• Global knowledge exchange: Facilitating the circulation of research across geographical, institutional, linguistic, and disciplinary boundaries.
• Intercultural dialogue: Encouraging comparative inquiry and intellectual exchange among diverse philosophical and religious traditions.
• Responsible reuse: Supporting the lawful reproduction, translation, adaptation, and further development of scholarly research.
• Scholarly attribution and integrity: Maintaining accurate recognition of authorship, intellectual sources, and publication provenance.

The journal seeks to maintain clear, consistent, and accessible copyright and licensing information throughout its publishing activities. Authors and readers are encouraged to consult the journal's related policies for further guidance concerning open access, publication ethics, author responsibilities, and the use of published research.