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Retain copyright; seek author-friendly policies:
According to federal law the creator(s) of a written work owns the copyright to that work. However, some publishers ask that you sign over these rights in order to publish the work in one of their publications.
Signing away your copyright may curtail your rights to use your material, curtail your ability to archive the preprint (ie pre-refereeing) or curtail your ability to archive post-print copies (i.e., final draft post-refereeing) of these works. These agreements certainly can curtail your right to share your material with colleagues, co-workers, students, and others.
Does your journal allow you to publish your article elsewhere?
Use the search engines on these sites to learn about publishers' policies:
 SHERPA (search by publisher)RoMEO (search by journal)Johns Hopkins (search by journal or by subject)
Sample language for your contract
Linked below are documents that exemplify the language some authors have used to retain copyright of their work. These examples may suggest issues to consider when you publish work of your own.
 MIT (pdf)SPARC/Science Commons (pdf)
Sample author-publisher agreements
These links demonstrate that a number of publishers have accepted author-friendly agreements.
More Links
Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders (database of contacts for acquiring permission to use copyrighted materal [University of Texas at Austin])What is an open access publication? (Wellcome Trust "Authors' Guide and FAQ") |
Copyright and Community
Creative
Commons helps you build a reasonable, flexible copyright. While Creative
Commons was developed for artistic works, Science
Commons (launched in 2005) is intended to apply the philosophies and
activities of Creative Commons to the sciences. On the Publish page,
both these projects offer tools for generating a customized license. The
intention is to ensure that you retain copyright while allowing specified
use of your work.
The
Center for Internet and Society (CIS) is a program at Stanford
Law School and is part of the Law,
Science and Technology Program. For matters of law, technology and the
public interest, CIS provides educational resources and analyses of policy.
CIS and the Cyberlaw Clinic provide legal representation to clients in cases
involving civil rights and technology.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a nonprofit group working to protect the digital rights of individuals.
Public
Knowledge (PK) is a public-interest advocacy organization dedicated
to defending openness, access, and the capacity to create and compete in
the digital age. PK monitors legislatures and agencies for any proposlas
that relate to intellectual property or tefhnology policy. Empowering
Creators in the Digital Age is a PK project intneded to make copyright
and technology accessible for artists.
Copyright & Fair Use is a Stanford University Libraries site with encyclopedic links and a Google search.
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