In order to foster biblical scholarship, the Society of Biblical Literature not only allows but encourages the free and responsible dissemination of the results of scholarly research published within its journals, books, and online publications. Given the increasing demand for freely accessible online resources, the SBL has established the following policy for authors of journal articles and book essays who wish to make their SBL-published work available on the Internet. The policy first outlines its general terms, then specifies the circumstances under which authors may make available SBL-published material on the Internet and any limitations on their dissemination of such material.
A. General Terms
1. By granting authors permission to make available their SBL-published work on the Internet, the SBL does not relinquish any of its rights as the copyright holder.
2. Any posting of an SBL-published work must acknowledge the SBL’s copyright of said work and the source of the original publication.
3. The SBL open-access policy applies only to articles and book reviews published in an SBL journal, whether print or online, and to essays in an SBL-published multiauthor work. It does not extend to singly authored monographs, and the public dissemination of any book-length SBL publication is expressly prohibited.
4. The SBL grants the right to post an SBL-published article or essay only to the author of said work and to the author’s employer or sponsoring organization. Authors may not authorize any other third party to post an author’s SBL-published work on the Internet but are to refer any inquiries of this sort to the SBL Publications office.
5. The grant of rights under this open-access policy applies only to an author’s personal website or to the official website of an author’s employer or sponsoring organization.
6. For works authored by more than one person, the right to post the work publicly extends equally to each author, provided that all the authors of the work agree to the public dissemination of the material.
7. Any open-access questions not addressed by this policy should be referred to the SBL Publications office.
B. Preacceptance Works
1. The term “preacceptance works” refers to journal articles, book reviews, and book essays that have been submitted to but not yet accepted for publication by the SBL.
2. The author of a preacceptance work is the sole holder of copyright on said work, and the SBL makes no claim to copyright on any work prior to its publication.
3. An author who has publicly posted a preacceptance work prior to submission of that work for possible SBL publication need not specify this when submitting it, and the posting of a work will not be considered as a factor during the evaluation process. In short, making a preacceptance work openly available on the Internet will neither exclude a work from possible SBL publication nor affect the peer review of said work.
4. Once the SBL publishes an author’s work, the author is required to replace any preacceptance versions with the published version or to remove entirely any preacceptance versions.
C. Prepublication Works
1. The term “prepublication works” refers to journal articles, book reviews, and book essays that have been accepted for publication but not yet published by the SBL, including works that may have been revised as a condition of acceptance or in light of a peer reviewer’s comments.
2. The author of a prepublication work is the sole holder of copyright on said work until he or she legally assigns it to the SBL.
3. An author of a prepublication work is free to make said work publicly available, provided that he or she acknowledges that the work will be published by the SBL, who will hold all copyright to the work, and provides all the relevant details of SBL’s publication.
4. Once the SBL publishes an author’s work, the author is required to replace any prepublication versions with the published version or to remove entirely any prepublication versions.
D. Published Works
1. The term “published works” refers to journal articles, book reviews, and book essays that have been published in either print or electronic form by the SBL.
2. The SBL is the sole copyright holder of any SBL-published work and reserves to itself all rights not specifically granted to the author by this policy. As noted above, any posting of an SBL-published work must acknowledge the SBL’s copyright of the work and provide full bibliographical details for the work’s SBL publication.
3. The author of an SBL-published work may post an SBL-supplied PDF file of the work, which files will be password-protected to prevent downloading and printing of the file. Authors are not permitted to post PDF files not provided to them by the SBL. Posting of a work in any other file format or as a nonsecure PDF is not permitted without the consent of the SBL.
4. To avoid the confusion created by the public posting of multiple and divergent versions of the same article, book review, or essay, an author of an SBL-published work must make available the published version of the work or no version at all.