Field Journal policies
Contributor Rights & Copyright
This is a plain-language draft. It hasn't been reviewed by a lawyer yet and may change. It doesn't claim that Field Journal meets any particular law.
Field Journal is built on other people's work: your stories, photos and art. This page explains, in plain words, who owns what.
Your work stays yours
If you made it, you own it. That includes your stories, essays, poems, photographs, illustrations, artwork, recipes, how-tos and research, as far as the law allows and unless you've already agreed something different with someone else (for example a magazine or an employer).
Publishing on Field Journal does not hand your copyright to Field Journal.
The permission you give us
When you publish, you give Field Journal a limited, non-exclusive permission to store, show, format and promote your piece while we run Field Journal. In practice that means things like:
- showing your piece, its photos and its opening on the site;
- resizing photos and laying out text so it reads well on phones and computers;
- showing a short preview when someone shares the link;
- featuring your piece on Camp, Explore, the Crockpot or the Workbench.
"Non-exclusive" means you can publish the same work anywhere else you like. The permission ends when you delete the piece (see "Taking your work down" below).
What we won't do without asking
Field Journal won't sell, sublicense or license your work to another company for its own use. We won't put it in a printed book (such as the The Annual Anthology), a paid product or anyone else's advertising unless you've given separate permission for that piece.
Our no-AI promise
Field Journal doesn't use your writing, photos or artwork to train AI. We don't send them to AI tools to write, rewrite, summarize or analyze them, and the site has no AI features.
The check for AI-generated pictures only reads labels that are already inside the photo file. It runs on our own server and doesn't send your photo to an AI service.
You may still use AI to help with your own writing, such as proofreading, as long as you tick the "AI assisted" box so readers know.
Credit where it's due
Your name appears with every piece you publish, and each piece ends with a line saying the writer owns it. Every photo has its own box for a description and the photographer's name, so photo credits stay with the picture.
Only post what you have the right to share
Only post work you made or have permission to use. Credit other people's photos, keep quotes short and say where they came from. Pictures must be real: no AI-generated images. See the community guidelines.
Taking your work down
You can delete any piece at any time from Field Notes. Deleting your account (in your Biography) removes everything you've posted, including your photos.
There are some limits we can't control, and we want to be upfront about them:
- Daily backups of the site's database are kept for about two weeks, so a copy can stay in a backup until it rolls off.
- Search engines and link previews may show an old copy for a while.
- We can't remove screenshots or copies other people have already made.
- We may need to keep a record when the law requires it, or while a report about the piece is still open.
If someone copies your work
Use Report on the piece and choose "Copied writing or photos", or email myfieldjournalcommunity@gmail.com. The reporting page explains what to include and what happens next.
Field Journal's own material
The Field Journal name, look and design, and our own writing (like the About page and the community guidelines), are © Field Journal. That notice covers only Field Journal's own material. It never covers writers' work or anyone else's rights.
Pieces already on the site
This page describes how Field Journal has always treated your work. It doesn't take any rights from pieces already posted. If we ever want to change this permission, we'll ask before it applies to work you've already shared.