All MedEdPORTAL submissions must be free and clear of all copyright infringements before moving forward with the peer review process. MedEdPORTAL Screeners review all embedded photos, images, charts, graphs, cartoons, text, or published articles to determine if appropriate copyright permissions have been obtained for any materials not created by the author or co-authors.

MedEdPORTAL Screeners also search for potential patient privacy (any identifiable "protected health information") violations such as photos, images, charts, graphs, lab values, radiographs, or medical records of real patients. If real patient information is found embedded within a resource then the author is required to comply with one of the following two options:

• Provide written permission from each patient granting permission to incorporate their protected health information in the submission.

• Ensure all patient identifiers (i.e. picture of patient's face, name, date of birth, social security number, address) have been removed from any photos, images, charts, graphs, lab values, radiographs, or medical records included in the submission.

All written permissions must acknowledge that the embedded materials are intended to be used for MedEdPORTAL and may be distributed under the Creative Commons License as part of the resource. Alternatively, if there are items where the author(s) are not known, or it will be difficult to receive the necessary permission, then it may be simply removed from the resource.

Replacing Copyrighted Materials with HEAL and/or Flickr Images

If permission cannot be obtained under the aforementioned terms, these items must be removed from the resource in compliance with MedEdPORTAL standards. Alternatively, such items can be replaced with those that reside in open-access digital repositories. Each searchable image featured within these repositories is associated with an author-generated Creative Commons License detailing how the image may be used. Imagery that meets MedEdPORTAL standards and policy are outlined as non-restrictive and can be found under these specific terms: free and unlimited use, reproduction, and modification. Prior to publication, these Creative Commons License citations must be attributed and affixed to each image featured in the MedEdPORTAL submission. MedEdPORTAL encourages authors to visit the Health Education Assets Library (HEAL) (www.healcentral.org) and Flickr (www.flickr.com) digital source libraries to identify and select substitute imagery for their resource under the aforementioned license terms.

Examples Citing HEAL and Flickr Images

HEAL (www.healcentral.org) Example:

"Morning Glory" Disc

Image retrieved on 10 June 2009 from: www.healcentral.org/healapp/showMetadata?metadataId=39469
Creative Commons License associated: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Flickr (www.flickr.com) Example:

X-Ray One Day Post-Op

Image retrieved on 10 June 2009 from: www.flickr.com/photos/andrew_p_holmes/82669613/
Creative Commons License associated: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/