What should I consider when hiring a graphic designer to digitize my scientific plots?

Question

I am working on a scientific publication in physics and want to present the architecture of our model in the paper.

I drew the architecture on paper with pencil and colours, just how I imagine it. Of course, that's not professional enough to publish, which is why I want to hire a graphic designer to port my sketch into a digital picture.

The picture will be a digital render of my sketch.

I know this depends a lot on local laws, but as far as I understand it, the graphic designer will hold the IP/copyright for the produced digital picture (in Germany).

But there is the possibility to buy the IP/copyright/license for that picture.

I have never done this before, so I have a few questions about it:

• If I buy the IP/copyright for the picture, can I act as if the plot is 'mine' and I 'produced' it? (I don't want to downplay the importance of the graphic designer, but I also don't want to cite/ask him every time I use the image.)
• Are there any ethical considerations I am missing?
• Are there any known pitfalls I should avoid, especially with publishing the picture in journals?

Answer 1

I can only answer part of this, as I don't know the laws in Germany. In general, just a guess, is that work "done for hire" may leave copyright with the one who hires, not the artist. This is especially (guessing again) true if you are the one specifying the diagram(s) and hence the "creative force" behind them. Copyright most places is for creative works. Your freehand drawing is probably (guessing) the creative part. The digital form is a derived work, not the original.

However, it would be dishonest to claim that you "produced" the drawing when you did not. Some might consider that plagiarism. You could claim that you specified the work, I'd think. And, you should acknowledge the work of the artist, even if paid.

I don't see any issues about publishing the work if you are clear about origins. But a lawyer will give the best answer.

And, to answer the headline question, consider their skills and the fees they charge.

Answer 2

It is possible for you to own the IP in the created work through an appropriate contractual agreement, but the creator will typically retain some "moral rights" at law (depending on the jurisdiction). This might include a right of attribution and a right to preserve the integrity of the work against alteration. To understand these issues you should get some advice on IP laws in your jurisdiction and you should ensure that your contractual agreement with the artist gives you the ownership/licensing of the work you require in order to use the created work now and into the future.

Additionally, setting aside the IP laws at issue, there is an expectation under academic practice that you will cite sources for work presented and correctly attribute sources. Failure to do so can constitute plagiarism and academic misconduct, irrespective of IP ownership issues. For that reason, it would be a good idea to ensure that your publications properly attribute the source of the picture to the artist. This is probably something you will need to do each time you use the work, in order to avoid a breach of expected academic practice.

Answer 3

Ben and Buffy gave excellent answers. Let me add something: A completely different thing to consider is the time schedule. If you ask a company / a publisher (e.g. Elsevier / Taylor and Francis, etc.) to create the graphic for you, it will take time. Usually 7 - 10 days. However, as you will most likely pay the bill with Drittmittel / Bonusmittel, keep in mind that this will be a crucial factor. The aforementioned publishers usually outsource the work to third-party companies. These, in turn, require the payment before they will send you the first draft. As administration in most German universities is slow, this can take weeks. So don't expect the results within the time frame specified on the homepages of the respective companies. I am sharing first-hand experience here (my context: Germany-based researcher). When I prepared a conference, I used such services to prepare infographics for certain keynote sessions. They never arrived in time (in fact, it took eight weeks until I received the results). So, if possible, clarify the payment route first. Also, keep in mind that most companies specify that you cannot modify or re-use elements (e.g. icons used in a larger graphic) from the output you receive. It is a really complicated matter. Read the fine print first. Germany-specific, I recommend local providers as a faster alternative (e.g. Grafikdesigner auf Auftragsbasis or similar). Hope it helps!

Answer 4

As you already noted, the designer (or their company) holds the copyright for their work by default (not only in Germany but in any jurisdiction adhering to international copyright conventions). If you want to do anything with the graphic, you need to acquire the corresponding rights in some way, usually via the contract by which you hire the designer.

You can theoretically have a contract that doesn’t specify how you can use the work, in which case it defaults to some baseline rights¹, which depend on the jurisdiction. However, I wouldn’t even bother with this case, as it gets easily legally muddy and the baseline rights very likely won’t suffice for you. Neither you nor the designer would want this.

Instead the contract should specify what you can do with the work and what that is up to you to negotiate with the designer – so there is no general answer. The more you want to do be able to do, the more it will cost. You already considered publishing a paper, but what may not be so obvious is:

• You may want to publish open access. Most journals use a Creative Commons license. This may be negotiable in some cases, but it’s probably easier to acquire the rights for this upfront.

• You may want to use the graphic in outreach or on your webpage.

• Journals might use the graphic in contexts where acknowledging the designer may be difficult, e.g., in a graphical abstract.

can I act as if the plot is 'mine' and I 'produced' it? (I don't want to downplay the importance of the graphic designer, but I also don't want to cite/ask him every time I use the image.)

You do not have to academically cite the designer, but acknowledging them is good academic practice. Putting a small line under the graphics in presentations should not cause a distraction, and in papers you can put a few words in the acknowledgments. Moreover, the right not to name the designer may cost extra.

It should go without saying that in no case it would be a good idea to explicitly claim that the work is yours.

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A final consideration: I would consider certain digital visualisation skills part of the standard toolbox of scientific communication. I don’t know how challenging your particular problem is, but consider investing the time in learning how to solve it yourself to benefit from the skill all your life.

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¹ These are based on the assumption that you wouldn’t want to hire a designer without using the work at all, so there are some implied usage rights.

Answer 5

This is really lawyer territory.

Copyright (Urheberrecht) protects the author and is inalienable. So, the first question is who is the author of the images that you ask to be generated. On the one hand, a proof-reader does not acquire a copyright on the published work, but your graphic designer might claim copyright on the presentation that the graphic designer gave your work.

Because you pay the graphic designer, you acquire almost automatically, i.e. silently and without explicit statement, certain usage rights (Nutzungsrechte). You can make an agreement where you have the right to pass these on and where you do not have to cite the designer for use. How agreeable the designer is will depend on how much of the designer's personality enters the resulting work. If the designer acts essentially like a typist, translating your sketches directly in the resulting final work, then there should be no problem in finding a designer who agrees to these conditions. If you desire a creative work, then this will be more difficult. The amount of creativity needed to create the desired outcome will be the most important element in an assessment by a court in a dispute.

Ethically, there are no big problems as both you and the graphic designer act from a position of similar strength. As you describe it, you are not trying to exploit someone's creativity for your own glory.

In any case, your university will probably have someone who can help you since this is not the first time they dealt with this. Also, graphical designers work this every working day, so they can explain their expectations to you easily.

Answer 6

First, make sure you have full rights to use and edit the image in any way you see fit as part of the contract. When my research group hires graphic designers to do work on our technical reports, we get all the design files and have right to use as we see fit.

Second, I think that a simple acknowledgment for help with digitization of figures is likely all that is required. I am sure that professors frequently give such a job to undergrads and would barely even think that is worthy of an acknowledgment. My dissertation chair often said there is a difference between intellectual contribution and labor for hire. The first requires citation. The second requires only payment, but acknowledgement is polite.