JMIR Publications publishes all articles under a Creative Common License, meaning that the authors retain the copyright but give JMIR Publications and everybody else an irrevocable license to use the material free of charge as long as they cite it properly (cc-by).
The license / copyright information is disclosed at the bottom of every published article, e.g.:
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. A CC license is used when an author wants to give people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that they have created.
A CC license (other than CC0, see below) is not a transfer of copyright. The authors retain the copyright. The license only governs the terms of use - under which conditions and how the material can be used. The copyright holder remains the holder of the copyright and can grant rights that exceed what is allowed under the license.
There are several types of CC licenses. In the context of JMIR Publications, the most important licenses are cc-by (attribution license) and CC0 (public domain: material can be used freely). All articles in JMIR are published under cc-by, which is the most liberal cc-license other than CC0. The only condition for use is attribution (cite the origin/copyright holder) and stating that it is published under cc-by.
When editorial staff or authors pick a TOC image for an article, they typically look for an image licensed under CC-BY or CC0, unless it is created by the authors themselves (Copyright, Licensing, Attribution of TOC images).
Related:
- Can you give me permission to publish my article as part of my thesis or book?
- Can you give me copyright or the permission to use a figure (or other material from a JMIR article)?
- Copyright, Licensing, Attribution of TOC images
- Where can I find the publication forms for authors and where do I submit them?