Navigating Copyright: How to Cite Sources in a Table

By David Becker

Dear Style Experts,

I am creating a table that presents information from multiple sources, and I can't figure out how to cite these sources within the table. What should I do?

—Vera K.

Dear Vera,

How you cite your sources depends on the context. If you are reproducing or adapting an existing table, you will need to seek permission and cite the source in a credit line beneath the table. Note that this credit line can identify particular sets of data in your table (e.g., “The data in column 1 are from…”). Thus, if you are adapting material from multiple sources—that is, extracting rows or columns from previously published tables and integrating them into a single table—you might need to include multiple permission statements, one for each source.

If you are simply pulling data from multiple sources, rather than repurposing columns or rows from preexisting tables (the data are not subject to copyright, but their presentation is), then it may be appropriate to just include standard author–date text citations within the table. This type of table is often used to summarize the results of multiple studies, which makes it easier for readers to digest the information, and is commonly used in meta-analyses. Below is a sample table in which each row represents a different study:

Table 1

Summary of Studies Included in Meta-Analysis on the Effectiveness of Rocking Out Like No One’s Watching (ROLNOW)

Study	N	Cohen’s d	SD
Atashin (2013)	384	0.86	0.63
Dumile & Jackson (2015)	176	1.21	0.95
Garcia, Homme, Oliveri, & Bjork (2014)	231	0.72	0.64
Iyer, Lehman, & Sorey (2014)	406	1.14	0.97
Onuki, Agata, & Hamamoto (2014)	127	0.63	0.41

Although studies are usually cited in the first column of a summary table, I’ve come across tables that list the citations in one of the middle columns or across the first row. Some tables might include multiple citations in a single column or row if these studies share similar features. How you choose to organize the contents of your table will depend on context and how you want readers to process the information.

It’s worth noting that the order of the rows in Table 1 reflects the alphabetical order of the citations as they would appear in the reference list. Even though APA Style does not address this directly, organizing the rows or columns of a table in this manner is a standard convention for summary tables. It also follows the general APA Style guideline about alphabetizing multiple sources within the same parenthetical citation to match how they are ordered in the reference list (see pp. 177—178 in the Publication Manual). If it makes more sense to organize the rows and columns in your table using a different standard—again, depending on the context—feel free to do so. Just make sure that readers can easily follow the flow of information!

In some cases, you may not want to devote an entire row or column to citing resources. Or, perhaps your citations apply to just a few cells or particular pieces of data. If so, it may be appropriate to cite your sources, using the author–date format, in one of two ways. First, you could include parenthetical citations within the table itself next to the relevant information, just as you would do with a standard text citation. Another approach would be to cite your sources below the table in a general note—as demonstrated in the Table 1 note from Sample Paper 1 on page 52 of the Publication Manual—or in multiple specific notes that connect your citations to particular cells via superscript, lowercase letters (see pp. 138–139 in the Publication Manual for more details). This latter method can be handy if one source applies to more than one cell and is used in the example table below, but parenthetical citations within the cells would be equally acceptable.

Table 2

Sample Responses to the ROLNOW Survey

Variable	Question	Sample responses
Coolness	How cool did you feel?	“Cool as a cucumber in a bowl of hot sauce.”a “Not at all cool. I actually felt kind of dorky.”b
Motivation/energy	How motivated and energized did you feel?	“I felt ready to take on the world!”c “Not very. I almost fell asleep!”b
Happiness	How happy were you?	“I was completely elated and filled with positive thoughts!”d “I was pretty happy, but I don’t think rocking out had anything to do with it.”a
Attractiveness	How physically attractive did you feel?	“I felt pretty, oh so pretty!”e “I was a gyrating mess of flailing limbs, so I probably didn’t look all that attractive.”c

^aDumile and Jackson (2015, p. 31). ^bIyer, Lehman, and Sorey (2014, p. 79). ^cOnuki, Agata, and Hamamoto (2014, p. 101). ^dGarcia, Homme, Oliveri, and Bjork (2014, p. 47). ^eAtashin (2013, p. 56).

You may have noticed a few differences between the citations in Tables 1 and 2. One is that the Table 2 notes—unlike the rows in Table 1—are not alphabetized. Specific notes are organized according to where the superscripts appear in the table, following the left-to-right and top-to-bottom order described on page 138 in the Publication Manual. Another difference is that Table 1 includes ampersands, whereas Table 2 spells out and. Although and is usually written instead of & when the authors are listed before the parenthetical citation, page 175 in the Publication Manual states that ampersands should be used within the body of the table (and should still be used outside of parentheses in table notes, as shown in the Table 1 note from Sample Paper 1). This helps save space because two fewer characters can sometimes make all the difference in such tight quarters. Finally, direct quotations are presented in Table 2, so the citations in the table note include page numbers. However, you do not need to include page numbers when citing numerical data, as in Table 1.

The example tables in this post offer a very limited scope when considering the many different types of tables that can be found in the wilds of academic publishing—and they are admittedly a tad sillier than is typical. However, the general citation guidelines they present can be easily adapted to just about any kind of table you might need to create. To find example tables that are more relevant to your needs, I recommend combing through journals that follow APA Style.

Navigating Copyright for Reproduced Images: Part 4. Writing the Copyright Statement

 by Chelsea Lee

This post is part of a series on how to cite an image reproduced from another source in APA Style. Here are Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. 

The fourth and final step of navigating copyright for reproduced images is writing the copyright statement.

All reproduced images (including tables) should be accompanied by an APA Style copyright permission statement and have a reference list entry (except for those images sold to you under a license, as described in Part 2, Sections B and C).

The format of the statement depends on the type of source, but in all cases it’s as simple as putting the pieces of the reference in the order of title, author, year of publication, and source, followed by the copyright year and the name of the copyright holder (plus the permission statement, if necessary). The reference list entry uses basically the same pieces, but in a different order.

Here are example templates, copyright statements, and reference entries for images reproduced from journal articles, books, book chapters, and websites.  

Image source	Template or example
Journal article, copyrighted
Template	From [or Adapted from/Data in column 1 are from] “Title of Article,” by A. N. Author and C. O. Author, year, Title of Journal, Volume, p. xx. Copyright [year] by Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted [or Adapted] with permission.
Example copyright statement	From “Social Media: A Contextual Framework to Guide Research and Practice,” by L. A. McFarland and R. E. Ployhart, 2015, Journal of Applied Psychology, 100, p. 1656. Copyright 2015 by the American Psychological Association.
Corresponding reference entry	McFarland, L. A., & Ployhart, R. E. (2015). Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100, 1653–1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244
Journal article, creative commons license
Template	From [or Adapted from/Data in column 1 are from] “Title of Article,” by A. N. Author and C. O. Author, year, Title of Journal, Volume, p. xx. Creative commons license abbreviation.
Example copyright statement	From "Maximizing the Persuasiveness of a Salesperson: An Exploratory Study of the Effects of Nonverbal Immediacy and Language Power on the Extent of Persuasion," by N. M. Gadzhiyeva and K. L. Sager, 2017, Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 33, p. 89. CC BY-NC-ND.
Corresponding reference entry	Gadzhiyeva, N. M., & Sager, K. L. (2017). Maximizing the persuasiveness of a salesperson: An exploratory study of the effects of nonverbal immediacy and language power on the extent of persuasion. Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 33, 89-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rpto.2017.03.001
Whole book
Template	From [or Adapted from/Data in column 1 are from] Title of Book (any edition or volume information, p. xxx), by A. N. Author and C. O. Author, year, Place of Publication: Publisher. Copyright [year] by Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted [or Adapted] with permission.
Example copyright statement	Adapted from Managing Therapy-Interfering Behavior: Strategies From Dialectical Behavior Therapy (p. 172), by A. L. Chapman and M. Z. Rosenthal, 2016, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Copyright 2016 by the American Psychological Association.
Corresponding reference entry	Chapman, A. L., & Rosenthal, M. Z. (2016). Managing therapy-interfering behavior: Strategies from dialectical behavior therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Edited book chapter
Template	From [or Adapted from/Data in column 1 are from] “Title of Chapter,” by A. N. Author and C. O. Author, in A. N. Editor (Ed.), Title of Book (any edition or volume information, p. xxx), year, Place of Publication: Publisher. Copyright [year] by Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted [or Adapted] with permission.
Example copyright statement	From “The Cortex: Regulation of Sensory and Emotional Experience,” by D. Christian, in N. Hass-Cohen and R. Carr (Eds.), Art Therapy and Clinical Neuroscience (p. 63), 2008, London, England: Jessica Kingsley. Copyright 2008 by Jessica Kingsley. Reprinted with permission.
Corresponding reference entry	Christian, D. (2008). The cortex: Regulation of sensory and emotional experience. In N. Hass-Cohen & R. Carr (Eds.), Art therapy and clinical neuroscience (pp. 62–75). London, England: Jessica Kingsley.
Website
Template	From [or Adapted from/Data in column 1 are from] “Title of Web Document,” by A. N. Author and C. O. Author, year (http://URL). Copyright [year] by Name of Copyright Holder. Reprinted [or Adapted] with permission.
Example copyright statement	From “Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity: Data, Trends and Maps. Alabama Indicator Details Percent of Adults Aged 18 Years and Older Who Are Obese,” by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015 (http://nccd.cdc.gov/NPAO_DTM/DetailedData.aspx?indicator=29&statecode=30). In the public domain.
Corresponding reference entry	Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). Nutrition, physical activity and obesity: Data, trends and maps. Alabama indicator details percent of adults aged 18 years and older who are obese. Retrieved from http://nccd.cdc.gov/NPAO_DTM/DetailedData.aspx?indicator=29&statecode=30

Note that you should use the wording “Reprinted [or Adapted] with permission” only when permission has been sought and granted.

Where to Put the Copyright Statement

If the image is a table, the copyright statement goes at the end of the general table note. If the image is anything else, it is considered a figure for the purposes of an APA Style paper, and the copyright statement goes at the end of the figure caption. If you’re creating a PowerPoint presentation, put this statement at the bottom of the slide in which the reproduced image appears. 

Final Thoughts

Does all of this seem like a lot of trouble to go through just to include an image in a paper or in a presentation? If so, remember that this is just one example of a very important issue—ownership of intellectual property. Copyright infringement comes with serious legal consequences (anyone who has seen the copyright disclaimer before a movie knows that) and is considered stealing.

So remember, just because you found something on the Internet does not necessarily mean that you can freely reproduce it. Look at the terms of the copyright, determine whether you need permission, obtain permission if necessary, and ensure that you credit the author of a reproduced image with a copyright statement and reference list entry.

If you have further questions about reproducing images for a paper, please leave them in the comments below.

Navigating Copyright for Reproduced Images: Part 3. Securing Permission

 by Chelsea Lee

This post is part of a series on how to cite an image reproduced from another source in APA Style. Here are Part 1 and Part 2.

The third step in navigating copyright for reproduced images is securing permission.

If none of the situations described in Part 2 of this series (Sections A–D) describe your case, you must seek permission to reproduce an image by contacting the copyright holder.

If the copyright holder is a large publisher, they probably have a permissions office to handle such requests (e.g., the APA Permissions Office). Otherwise, look for a “contact us” page on the site that contains the image to know who to contact for permission.

Your request for permission should at minimum contain information about

• what image you want to reproduce;
• where you want to reproduce it (e.g., in a classroom paper, in an article to published, in a dissertation); and
• whether you will be reproducing it online, in print, or both.

Allot several weeks of time to go through the permissions process. If there is no obvious person to contact, then you should not reproduce the image because you cannot obtain permission (we recommend you then choose something else that does not require permission).

 

Continue to Part 4: Writing the Copyright Statement

Navigating Copyright for Reproduced Images: Part 2. Determining Whether Permission Is Needed

 by Chelsea Lee

This post is part of a series on how to cite an image reproduced from another source in APA Style. Here is Part 1.

The second step in navigating copyright for reproduced images is understanding whether you need permission from the image’s copyright holder before you are legally allowed to reproduce the image in your paper. This applies even if you are writing a paper for a classroom assignment and not for publication. 

When Is Permission Required? 

Permission is only sometimes required to reproduce an image.

• Permission is required to reproduce a copyrighted image unless it meets one of the criteria described below in Parts A, B, C, or D of this post.
• Permission is not required to reproduce an image that has a creative commons license or is in the public domain. If that’s your case, proceed to Part 4 of this series.

A. Academic Sources

Many scientific, technical, and medical publishers will allow you to reproduce images (here meaning tables or figures) without obtaining permission provided that

• the purpose of the use is scholarly comment, noncommercial research, or educational use and
• full credit is given to the author and publisher as copyright holder.

For example, APA allows you to reproduce without obtaining permission

• up to three tables or figures from a journal article or book chapter or
• a maximum of five tables or figures from a whole book.

Note that all publishers have their own policies, so you should check with the publisher of your material to determine whether permission is necessary. For materials published by APA, visit the APA Permissions Office.

B. Commercial Stock Photography

To reproduce a stock photo you will most likely have to buy a license from its stock photography website (e.g., ShutterStock, iStock, Getty Images, Corbis). Consult the terms of the image to know what steps to take.

• If you do own the license to a stock photograph, you can use the image in the paper without any attribution or credit line.
• If you do not own the license to a stock photograph, you cannot reproduce the image.

Note that you might come across a stock photo “in the wild”—for example, as part of a newspaper or magazine article (the images on this blog fall into this category too). That means that the publisher has bought a license for the stock photograph. If you want to use the photograph in your paper too, you need to go buy your own license for the photo.

C. Clip Art

Most clip art does not require permission to reproduce, but it may require a credit line. Check the terms of the clip art website to determine what to do.

• If the clip art comes from a program like Microsoft Word, then by buying the program you have bought a license to that clip art and can use it in an academic paper without any attribution or credit line.
• If the clip art comes from a free clip art website (e.g., Openclipart) and it has a creative commons license or is in public domain, permission is not necessary but you should give a copyright statement for the image (see Part 4 of this series).

D. Fair Use for Other Copyrighted Sources

You may also be able to avoid seeking permission to reproduce a copyrighted image if your use is considered “fair.” Fair use is a loosely defined and complicated legal concept (here is a summary from the U.S. Copyright Office), but in practice it means that under certain circumstances you can reproduce or adapt a copyrighted image without obtaining permission so long as you credit the source (see Part 4 of this series).

In the context of reproducing an image, your use is probably fair if it meets the following criteria:

• It is for use in an academic work and not for profit (such as a paper for a class or publication in an academic journal).
• It represents facts or data (such as a chart or diagram) rather than creative self-expression (such as artwork, although some famous works of art are in the public domain and thus do not require permission).
• It is small in relation to the whole work (such as a chart within a report) and not the whole thing or the “heart” of the work (such as an individual photograph or a whole cartoon).
• Reproducing the image will not hurt the market or potential market for the original.

If you fail to meet the above criteria for fair use or if you are unsure as to whether you meet the criteria, exercise caution and seek permission to reproduce the image. For more help in determining fair use, check out this Fair Use Checklist from Columbia University.

Unclear Copyright

If the copyright status of the image is unclear, assume that it is copyrighted. Contact the publisher of the image for more information if needed. If the origin of the image cannot be determined (e.g., it appears in many places on the internet without attribution and it is impossible to say where exactly it originated), we recommend that you choose an alternative image for your paper. Be particularly careful of stock photographs, which legally can be reproduced without attribution, but only by a license holder. 

 

Continue to Part 3: Securing Permission

Continue to Part 4: Writing the Copyright Statement

Navigating Copyright for Reproduced Images: Part 1. Understanding Copyright Status

 by Chelsea Lee

This post is part of a series on how to cite an image reproduced from another source in APA Style. 

The first step in navigating copyright for reproduced images in APA Style is to understand the copyright status of the image you want to reproduce.

You may be surprised to learn that just because you found something on the Internet or read it in a book does not mean that you are entitled to reproduce it for free in a paper. In fact, U.S. copyright law states that whomever owns the copyright to an image has the right to say how it is used.

To determine whether you are allowed to reproduce an image, look for the copyright on the work. Here are some examples of copyright statements you might see:

• Regular copyright or “all rights reserved” copyright
  • This kind of copyright is indicated by the word copyright or the copyright symbol.
  • Examples: Copyright 2015 by the American Psychological Association. © 2014 Elizabeth T. Jones, all rights reserved.
  • To reproduce a copyrighted image, you have to get permission in writing from the copyright holder first, unless you meet one of the exceptions described in Part 2 of this series. You also have to give full credit to the copyright holder in the form of a copyright statement in your paper (see Part 4 of this series for the format).
    
    
• Creative commons copyright
  • Creative commons licenses are indicated by the words creative commons or CC.
  • In general, creative commons licenses allow you to reproduce and/or adapt a work (including images) without getting permission from the copyright holder, so long as you give credit to the original author in the form of a copyright statement (see Part 4 of this series).
  • The specific terms of creative commons licenses vary, so check the license associated with your image to determine what you are allowed to do.
    
    
• Public domain
  • Works that are not bound by copyright are considered in the public domain. This means you can reproduce them and/or adapt them however you want, so long as you credit the original author in the form of a copyright statement (see Part 4 of this series).
  • Assume a work is under copyright unless you see the words public domain on it or the work was produced by the U.S. Government (in which case it is automatically in the public domain). Copyright does expire, but that can take a long time.
    
    
• No copyright indicated
  • If no copyright is indicated, treat the work as copyrighted.
  • U.S. copyright law states that a work is copyrighted as soon as it is fixed in tangible form (e.g., you can see it on a computer screen or on paper), even if the work doesn’t say copyright or have the copyright symbol, and even if it is not mass produced or professionally published. For example, you automatically own the copyright to papers you write for a class.

 

Continue to Part 2: Determining Whether Permission Is Needed

Continue to Part 3: Securing Permission

Continue to Part 4: Writing the Copyright Statement

 

Navigating Copyright for Reproduced Images: Overview

 by Chelsea Lee

This post is the overview for a series on how to cite an image reproduced from another source in APA Style.

Many writers wonder how to cite an image they have reproduced from another source in an APA Style paper. The image might be a chart, graph, picture, clip art, photograph, infographic, figure, or table, and it might come from a journal article, magazine article, newspaper article, book, book chapter, report, or website.  

You may be surprised to learn that regardless of the type of image or its source, to reproduce an image in an APA Style paper is not as simple as copy and paste. There are legal implications of reproducing copyrighted intellectual property like images, even in student papers, and the upcoming series of posts will walk you through the process of understanding copyright and permissions and then appropriately crediting the source in your paper.

There are four steps to navigating copyright for reproduced images, each of which is described in its own post. Click the post title below to be taken directly to the information you need, or read the whole series to learn all about this issue!

1. Understand the copyright status of the image.
2. Determine whether permission is necessary to reproduce the image.
3. Secure permission to reproduce the image, if permission is needed.
4. Write the APA Style copyright statement and reference list entry for the image.