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Open Access

Author Rights

You know what you write, but do you know your rights?

  • You own what you create. As the author of a work you are automatically the copyright holder. Copyright registration is not required.
  • You retain your copyright unless you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement, such as a journal publisher.
  • The copyright holder controls the work. 
  • Transferring copyright doesn't have to be "all or nothing."
  • Your assignment of rights to publisher's could hinder your future uses of your work.

For more information about your rights as an author, please visit SPARC's Author Rights or the Scholar's Copyright Addendum Engine

Copyright and Your Rights

Creative Commons Licensing

With a Creative Commons license you keep your copyright, but communicate to others how they can use your work.

For example:

Are you fine with someone using your work for any purpose (classroom teaching, translation, sharing online), but don't want them to be able to use it commercially? CC-BY-NC is the right license for you.

Do you want to allow others to copy, distribute, remix, or perform your work without restrictions? Use CC-BY!

Perhaps you're fine with your research being copied, distributed, and shared, but don't want it to be translated or used for commercial purposes. Then CC-BY-ND is the right license for you.

The Creative Commons license generator will help you choose what Creative Commons license you need!

Publisher Policies

Below are links to the general copyright and archiving policies for major publishers. If your publisher is not included in this list you can look them up in the Sherpa/Romeo database, or consult the publisher's website.