Author's Rights and Publishing Contracts: More Resources

What rights would you like to retain when you publish? What does the contract the publisher sent you mean? Although we cannot act as your attorney, staff in the Scholarly Communications Office will be glad to discuss what your contract means and what your options are for retaining rights.

Here are some tools to help you retain rights when you publish:

• Submitted manuscript (pre-print): the original version submitted to a journal, prior to peer review
• Accepted manuscript (post-print): the version after peer review, but without formatting done by the publisher
• Published version (version of record): the final, published version with all of the publishers' formatting

If you are publishing open access, you will typically have to agree to a Creative Commons Attribution License. Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law.

• CC BY: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY includes the following elements:
  • BY – Credit must be given to the creator
• CC BY-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-SA includes the following elements:
  • BY – Credit must be given to the creator
  • SA – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms
• CC BY-NC: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. It includes the following elements:
  • BY – Credit must be given to the creator
  • NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted
• CC BY-NC-SA: This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements:
  • BY – Credit must be given to the creator
  • NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted
  • SA – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms
• CC BY-ND: This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY-ND includes the following elements:
  • BY – Credit must be given to the creator
  • ND – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted
• CC BY-NC-ND: This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:
  • BY – Credit must be given to the creator
  • NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted
  • ND – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted
• CC0 (aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool, which allows creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. CC0 allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions.

(source: Creative Commons, "About CC Licenses," https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/)

If you transferred your copyright to the publisher at the time of publication, your right to re-use the content in teaching and publication may be restricted. To determine your rights, take the following steps:

• If you have it, check your original publishing agreement.
• Look for the specific publisher's policies on the SHERPA/RoMEO website.
• Contact the publisher.