How to deal with journals requesting incomplete / incorrect attribution for images taken from other sources? I recently submitted an article containing several images from other publications. I made sure to give the appropriate attribution both for open access images (including stating e.g. CC BY 4.0), as well as those I asked permission for. From those sources I had to ask permission for, some had clear and lengthy requirements as to how I had to attribute (e.g. permission obtained from / name of journal / name of paper / year / name of all authors / copyright / copyright holder).
After my article got accepted, I received a message from the journal editor to proofread the article and to change the image attribution and limit them to: &quot;reprinted with permission from [1]. Copyright / year / copyright holder&quot;, and even only &quot;reprinted from [1]&quot; for open access images.
In short, the journal asked me to omit a lot of the information that I am actually supposed to (or even legally required to, if I understand correctly) attribute to use the images in question in a sound and appropriate way.
So my question is: can I insist that the correct attribution remains with the images even if this is against journal practice, or is this something that regularly happens and in case the copyright holders complain, the journal (and not I, the author) can be held responsible?
I don't know whether you can insist on the exact wording the copyright holders asked for, or whether you should, or whether you or the journal faces legal consequences if you don't.
I suggest you write the editor quoting the specific requirements directly as they came to you in support of your wish to honor those requests. If the editor says no and there are consequences that's the journal's problem, not yours.