Q: Is permission required when reusing my figure in a new paper?
I want to reuse a figure of my published paper, published in PlosONE four years ago, in a new paper that I plan to submit to another journal this time. In this case, is permission required? The figure was created by myself.
Different journals have different copyright rules regarding re-use of data published in their journal, even if the data is your own! PLOS One guidelines state: "Under this Open Access license, you as the author agree that anyone can reuse your article in whole or part for any purpose, for free, even for commercial purposes. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse the content as long as the author and original source are properly cited."
Therefore, it should be okay for you to re-use your figure, as long as you cite it appropriately. However, to prevent any copyright breach, we would recommend checking the guidelines of your new target journal, and also writing to the editorial board of PLOS One, confirming that you can re-use the figure.
We hope this answer helps!
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