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LICENSE OF PUBLISHING RIGHTS

I hereby grant to the Journal exclusive publishing and distribution license in the manuscript identified above and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript (the “Article”) in print, electronic and all other media (whether now known or later developed), in any form, in all languages, throughout the world, for the full term of copyright, and the right to license others to do the same, effective when the article is accepted for publication. This license includes the right to enforce the rights granted hereunder against third parties. Supplemental Materials With respect to Supplemental Materials that I wish to make accessible through a link in the Article or on a site or through a service of the Journal, the Journal shall be entitled to publish, post, reformat, index, archive, make available and link to such Supplemental Materials on a non-exclusive basis in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), and permit others to do so. “Supplemental Materials” shall mean additional materials that are not an intrinsic part of the Article, including but not limited to experimental data, e-components, encodings and software, and enhanced graphical, illustrative, video and audio material.

SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATIONS RIGHTS

I understand that I retain the copyright in the Article and that no rights in patents, trademarks or other intellectual property rights are transferred to the Journal. As the author of the article, I understand that I shall have: (i) the same rights to reuse the Article as those allowed to third party users of the Article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license, as well as (ii) the right to use the Article in a subsequent compilation of my works or to extend the Article to book-length form, to include the article in a thesis or dissertation, or otherwise to use or re-use portions or excerpts in other work, for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. Except for such uses, I understand that the license of publishing rights I have granted to the Journal gives the Journal the exclusive right to make or sub-license commercial use.

USER RIGHTS

The publisher will apply the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC-ND) to the Article where it publishes the Article in the journal on its online platforms on an Open Access basis. For further information, see http://www.elsevier.com/about/open-access/open-access-options. The CC-BY-NC-ND license allows users to copy and distribute the Article, provided this is not done for commercial purposes and further does not permit distribution of the Article if it is changed or edited in any way, and provided the user gives appropriate credit (with a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI), provides a link to the license, and that the licensor is not represented as endorsing the use made of the work.

The full details of the license are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.

REVERSION RIGHTS

Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the author (see http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy).

REVISIONS AND ADDENDA

I understand that no revisions, additional terms or addenda to this License Agreement can be accepted without the Journal’s express written consent.

I understand that this License Agreement supersedes any previous agreements I have entered into with the Journal in relation to the Article from the date hereof.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The publisher shall publish and distribute the Article with the appropriate copyright notice.

AUTHOR REPRESENTATIONS/ETHICS AND DISCLOSURE

I affirm the Author Representations noted below and confirm that I have reviewed and complied with the relevant Instructions to Authors, Ethics in Publishing policy, Declarations of Interest disclosure and information for authors from countries affected by sanctions (Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Burma, Syria, or Crimea). Please note that some journals may require that all co-authors sign and submit Declarations of Interest disclosure forms. I am also aware of the publisher’s policies with respect to retractions and withdrawal.

Author Representations

1. The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated authors and has not been previously published.

2. The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.

3. The Article and the Supplemental Materials do not infringe any copyright, violate any other intellectual property, privacy or other rights of any person or entity, or contain any libellous or other unlawful matter.

4. I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article or the Supplemental Materials.

5. Except as expressly set out in this License Agreement, the Article is not subject to any prior rights or licenses and, if my or any of my coauthors’ institution has a policy that might restrict my ability to grant the rights required by this License Agreement (taking into account the Scholarly communication rights permitted hereunder), a written waiver of that policy has been obtained.

6. If I and/or any of my co-authors reside in Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Burma, Syria, or Crimea, the Article has been prepared in a personal, academic or research capacity and not as an official representative or otherwise on behalf of the relevant government.

7. If I am using any personal details or images of patients, research subjects or other individuals, I have obtained all consents required by applicable law and complied with the publisher’s policies relating to the use of such images or personal information.

8. Any software contained in the Supplemental Materials is free from viruses, contaminants or worms.

9. If the Article or any of the Supplemental Materials were prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this License Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.