cs249r_book/book/quarto/scripts/mit_press/PERMISSIONS_GUIDE.md

Permissions Tracking — MIT Press Submission

Status: Schema as of 2026-05-20. Author-facing guide for what to track and how.

MIT Press requires print + electronic + world-language permissions for any third-party material in the book. Volume editors are responsible for ensuring the compliance of contributing authors. Three separate logs cover the three categories of third-party material.

When permission is required

Per MIT Press author guidelines, permission must be obtained for:

Category	Threshold	Log
Illustrations / figures	Any third-party figure	PERMISSIONS_FIGURES_*.csv
Tables	Any third-party table	PERMISSIONS_TABLES_*.csv
Prose excerpts	More than 300 words	PERMISSIONS_TEXT_*.csv
Poetry / song lyrics	Any length — even one line	PERMISSIONS_TEXT_*.csv

Permission must cover all three scopes: print, electronic (HTML/EPUB/PDF), and world-language (translation rights).

When permission is NOT required

• Original work by the author or coauthors (most TikZ figures, original schematic diagrams) — log as source_type: original, blank permission fields.
• Public-domain material (US government works, pre-1928 works, explicitly CC0-released material) — log as source_type: public_domain, blank permission fields.
• Fair use — borderline; MIT Press will advise on a case-by-case basis. When in doubt, treat as requiring permission.
• Brief, properly attributed quotations under 300 words in scholarly context — typically falls under fair use; log as source_type: fair_use with the citation.

Source-type categories (canonical values)

Use these exact strings in the source_type column for downstream filtering:

Value	Meaning	Permission needed?
original	Created by the author or named coauthor / contributor	No
adapted	Author's redrawing of a third-party figure; usually requires permission unless substantially transformed	Usually yes
used_with_permission	Third-party material reproduced with explicit grant	Yes (logged)
public_domain	Pre-1928 US, US government work, or explicitly CC0	No
cc_licensed	Creative Commons license (record specific license in license column)	Depends on license terms
fair_use	Brief quotation under fair use; cite source, do not need permission	No (but cite)

License column (when source_type is cc_licensed)

Value	Notes
CC0	Public domain dedication — no attribution required, no permission needed
CC-BY	Attribution required; permission generally not needed for non-commercial reproduction
CC-BY-SA	Attribution + share-alike; MIT Press will need to confirm compatibility
CC-BY-NC	Non-commercial — incompatible with commercial publication; do not use
CC-BY-ND	No derivatives — usable only if no adaptation; flag for review
all_rights_reserved	Third-party copyright held; permission required

Permission scope columns

Three columns (permission_print, permission_electronic, permission_world_lang) take one of:

• yes — permission obtained for this scope
• no — explicitly denied (figure must be removed or substituted)
• pending — request sent, awaiting response
• na — not applicable (e.g., source is original work or public domain)

Workflow

1. Initial pass — for each figure/table/excerpt, the author identifies the source type. If original or public_domain, the row is complete with no permission work needed.
2. Permission requests — for used_with_permission and adapted entries, draft and send permission requests using MIT Press's standard letter. The acquisitions assistant (currently Susan Hartman's team) provides the template.
3. Tracking — record outcomes in the log. Pending requests must be resolved before final manuscript submission.
4. Final review — before submission, run the audit script (TBD) to flag any row where the source requires permission but permission_print, permission_electronic, or permission_world_lang is still pending or blank.

Templates

• PERMISSIONS_FIGURES_TEMPLATE.csv — figure log schema with example rows
• PERMISSIONS_TABLES_TEMPLATE.csv — table log (same shape, different label column)
• PERMISSIONS_TEXT_TEMPLATE.csv — prose / lyrics / poetry log

Pre-populate from existing data:

# After regenerating the figure list:
python3 scripts/mit_press/generate_figure_list.py
# Then merge labels into permissions log (script TBD; manual for now)