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Copyright: A Resource Guide

This guide is intended for teaching faculty in their use of materials for coursework both on-ground and online.

Publishing Resources

In the future, how can I ensure I retain rights?

  • You can always negotiate for further rights within your contract agreement with the publisher.
     
  • If you would like to retain rights to have maximum flexibility in your abiility to use your publication in teaching, public access, or other purposes, you can submit an authors' rights addendum - (http://scholars.sciencecommons.org/) - which authors can attach to their publisher agreements.

Using Copyrighted Material in Publication

  • If you use copyrighted material (images, extensive quotation from other sources, or any other use that may exceed "fair use" - see "Copyright Basics" for more information on Fair Use), you must obtain permission to utilize that material in your publication.
     
  • For more information on how to obtain permission see "Obtaining Permission."

Can I post my publications to websites or re-use in other publications?

  • When your publish an article or book, you will need to sign a contract with the publisher which (usually) requires signing certain rights to the publisher
     
  • Unless you specifically retained the right to post materials to other websites or re-use for other purposes, you do not have the right to re-publish your publications.
     
  • If you would like to retain rights to your publications, there is an addendum - http://scholars.sciencecommons.org/ - which authors can attach to their publisher agreements.

Can I post my publications to websites or re-use in other publications?

If in doubt about whether you may publish your scholarship online, go to SHERPA/RoMEO, an international listing of publisher copyright policies, http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/.Each entry provides a summary of the publisher's policy, including what version of an article can be published or archived, where it can be deposited, and any conditions that are attached to that deposit.

Using Sherpa/RoMEO

  • Go to http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/
     
  • Type in the publisher or journal and see what color is assigned to that publisher.  The color-coding differentiates among four categories of publishing (or archiving) rights: 

RoMEO color

Archiving policy

green

can archive pre-print and post-print or publisher's version/PDF

blue

can archive post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing) or publisher's version/PDF

yellow

can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing)

white

archiving not formally supported

Are there alternatives to avoid copyright complications?

There are currently several initiatives that help authors to license and use content

  • Creative Commons - http://creativecommons.org/ - is a tool that helps authors specify how they would like their work used.
     
  • Creative Commons also priovides a search tool - http://search.creativecommons.org/ which searches Google to find images, music, or other materials authors may wish to use in their work.