Understanding Author Agreements
Know Your Rights!
Many authors of scholarly articles do not realize that most journals and publishers require that one's copyright be signed over to them to publish one's work. Signing away your copyright may prevent you from posting your own work on personal websites or electronic course reserves.
For more information, please contact Research and Scholarly Communication Librarians.
Things to consider:
How to find journal and publisher policies on copyright
You can easily find and compare policies with the Jisc Open Policy Finder. The Open Policy Finder is a useful resource for locating publishers’ copyright and editorial policies. To be on the safe side, also verify journal copyright policies by consulting the journal’s website. If you are still not clear, contact the journal’s editorial staff directly or consult with Research and Scholarly Communication Librarians.
Look to see whether the journal requires you to transfer copyright to them on publication. Also check whether the journal will give you permission to archive your accepted manuscript in an institutional repository, and if there is a required embargo period. Sharing your accepted manuscript will allow you to provide open access to your work and will therefore meet most funder Open Access policies.
Negotiate and retain your rights
Typically, when a journal accepts your manuscript, you will be asked to sign the publisher's standard Copyright Transfer agreement. Yet, to publish a publisher only requires the author's permission, also called a non-exclusive license to publish, and not the wholesale transfer of rights. Why sign a copyright transfer agreement that restricts your future use of your hard work?
You can negotiate to retain more rights.
- Scrutinize the copyright transfer agreement
- Negotiate with the publisher: transferring copyright doesn't have to be all or nothing
- Retain the rights you need: value your intellectual property
To assist you in retaining your rights, you may wish to consult Information for Authors from the Canadian Association of Research Libraries and then use the SPARC Canadian Author's Addendum to Publication Agreement. This tool can guide authors in making the best decisions regarding their publication options.
I have already published in a journal of my choosing, but I have to meet a funding agency’s Open Access requirement
Place a copy of the paper in an open access disciplinary repository, such as PubMed Central, or SocArXiv, or the Western University Open Repository. Most publishers will allow the preprint or the final peer-reviewed version, also known as the Author Accepted Manuscript version, to be hosted in a repository. This is known as green open access and meets the requirements of most open access obligations required by grants.
For more information on sharing your accepted manuscript, see our Open Access Publishing page, and you are always welcome to email the Research and Scholarly Communication Librarians.
For more information on copyright
Copyright @ Western (includes a Fair Dealing Analysis section)
This copyright site provides resources and services to assist in clarifying copyright privileges and obligations for the Western Community. It is designed to offer general copyright information and education, not legal advice.
Learn about Creative Commons Licenses, which are copyright licenses that grant certain rights to the end user, while allowing the author to retain copyright over their work.
