I am planning to submit a lit review paper, and will be using images from other papers. I have references the images, but do I need to get permission as well. And who gives the permission? The author or the publisher? Or do you just reference it and it should be OK?

Hi Ailicec, you definitely need permission. You should check who is the copyright holder. If it is a published image it should be the publisher, but you may need permission also from the author. I would approach the publisher first and ask. I don't think that you can get anything reproduced without permission. Especially if it is a small publisher, they won't risk being sued for that. If it you are using the images for an academic journal, it shouldn't be too costly, and your department may fund this expense.