As a creator and researcher you have put a tremendous amount of work into your research and writing. Before you publish or premiere you should think about the short and long term ways you may want to use your work and what rights you wish to retain versus those you are willing to give away to the publisher. Some questions you might want to ask yourself are: Do I want to reuse a figure in another journal article? What happens if my book goes out of print? Do I want to be able to freely share my research outputs with colleagues around the world?
As an academic author at Oxy you own the copyrights (in most cases) to your scholarly works you have created at the College.
Copyright allows authors:
Publishing agreements from traditional, subscription-based journals, as opposed to open access journals, will ask that you transfer, assign, or license all of your copyrights without monetary compensation. In exchange, your article is published in a journal, which carries with it the opportunity for scholarly impact, promotion, and career advancement.
If you are publishing a scholarly book, the publishing agreement, transfer, license or assignment will often involve a monetary transaction. You receive a lump sum or royalties based on how many books are sold. In exchange, the publisher generally receives the right control the price of the books, the manner and terms of how the book is published, and if new editions or translations are created.
Publishing Agreements vary greatly. For example, they might ask for rights:
Sometimes with journals the “exclusivity” period is only for 6 months or a year, after which point you’re able to post copies of the work on other sites or use it in other ways.
Often publishers agreements create significant barriers: for authors who want to reuse their work and for others wanting to use it. Negotiating changes to these standard agreements can help authors avoid unfortunate barriers to reuse and sharing.
Examples of some common future uses that may not be allowed:
You wish to have an e-book version made available, or for a copy to be made available open access with a Creative Commons license.
Your book has gone out of print, and you wish to have it made available through a print-on-demand service.
You wish or have been offered to have your work translated .
Depending on how similar subsequent articles are to your original, these might count as “derivative works”—as to which the right to create may have been assigned to your publisher.
Some agreements prohibit you from posting a copy of the publisher version of the final article to your personal or departmental website, or an institutional repository.
This last point can be very important, especially in light of the 2022 Nelson Memo from the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy which requires that work created with federal funds must be made openly available online.
Publishing in an open access journal allows you to retain your copyright. Unlike traditional publishing agreements, with an open access journal, you either give them a non-exclusive License to publish your work, or are bound by a Creative Commons license. A Creative Commons License is a tool that allows others to easily share and re-use your work while ensuring that you get proper credit.