Nature Publishing Group's (NPG) license agreement is a legal document protecting the rights of our customers ("the Licensee") and Nature Publishing Group ("the Licensor"). Every customer is required to sign a license agreement at the start of their site license. Addendums may be used to add additional publications to an agreement or to extend the license period.

Nature Publishing Group's license agreement gives libraries the right to use NPG content in ways specific to an electronic resource. Where possible within electronic publishing law, this includes the same rights as with traditional print usage. The agreement includes terms requested by libraries from the academic, corporate and government sectors.

License agreements may change each year as new clauses are added. Always ask your sales representative for the latest version of the agreement during your renewal.

The license agreement outlines the contract details, including:

• Licensed material - the publications licensed by the customer, including the amount of content being licensed. For example, all content published from January 2003 to the current issue. Find out more >>
• License details - the identified number of potential users and targeted IP range for the institution.
• Supply period - the start and end dates of the site license access period.
• License fee - the total price for access to all licensed material for the supply period.
• Terms - the interpretation of the agreement, including usage rights and restrictions, terms and warranties, and customer services.

The contract must be signed by both the Licensee and Nature Publishing Group.

Geographical regions use different agreements to comply with regional law.

Key clauses in the license agreement

• Post-cancellation rights (clause 4.6). New in 2006, this policy provides customers with post-cancellation rights to content associated with their licensed publications, subject to payment of an annual access fee. Find out more >>
• COUNTER-compliant usage statistics (clause 9). NPG confirms that reports will adhere to the Project COUNTER Code of Practice, including data elements collected and their definitions, data processing guidelines, usage report content, frequency and delivery method. Find out more >>
• Stable server (clause 8.4d). Customers are guaranteed a stable server with a minimum of 95% availability.

•  Remote access is allowed through licensee's secure network. 
• Teaching staff may reproduce individual articles from licensed material for distribution to students accredited to the Licensee.
• Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is permitted in print format (but not electronically). Single copies of individual articles may be reproduced for distribution without charge to individual libraries of not-for-profit, non-commercial organizations in accordance with fair usage guidelines.

Authorized users may print and/or download individual articles and other individual items from searches of the licensed material for research and regulatory purposes in the furtherance of the Licensee's business.

Geographical regions use different agreements to comply with regional law. To view the license agreement, select from the table below.

WP should fill this information in as required e.g. Table to show three column maximum widths

Americas	License Agreement
Academic	(PDF, 256K)
Corporate/Government	(PDF, 255K)
Rest of the World, excluding Japan	License Agreement
Academic	(PDF, 885K)
Corporate/Government	(PDF, 169K)
Japan
Please go to our Japanese website