Legal Disclaimer
This guide is designed to share information on author's rights, copyright and related topics. This guide does not supply legal advice nor is it intended to replace the advice of legal counsel.
Creative Commons License
Author Rights
For the purposes of copyright law, an author is anyone who creates original expression in a fixed medium, like a book, journal article, computer software, a photograph, artwork or many other creative works. The creator of the expression is the Author and holds the copyright from the moment of creation.
As the Author of a work you are the copyright holder unless and until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement.
Whether you are ensuring reuse in your classroom or course assignments, or publishing and ensuring broad visibility by sharing openly, this guide gives an overview about your rights as an author, considerations, and tips to negotiate and ensure access and continued rights to your work.
What copyright does an author have?
An individual has rights to the intellectual or creative works they produce. As an author, you own the rights to your work from the moment that work takes on some fixed form, until or unless the rights are transferred to another entity. Traditional publishing contracts often assign copyright to the publisher, thus limiting how and where the work can be used and distributed in the future. If this happens, authors may be restricted from incorporating this work into their teaching and research, posting it to a website, or in an Institutional Repository.
An Author's Bundle of Exclusive Rights
Copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights of the creator or copyright holder:
| To Reproduce | The Reproduction right is the right to make copies of a protected work (e.g., as photocopies or online) |
| To Distribute | The Distribution right is the right to sell or distribute copies of the work to the public. |
| Prepare Derivative Works or Adaptations | The right to create adaptations (called derivative works, e.g., translations), the right to prepare new works based on the protected work |
| Display or Perform the Work Publicly | The rights to perform a protected work (such as a stage play) or to display a work in public |
| Authorize Others to Exercise Any of These Rights | This bundle of rights allows a copyright owner to be flexible when deciding how to realize commercial gain from the underlying work; the owner may sell or license any of the rights |
TAKE NOTE: Authors are typically asked to sign legally binding contracts such as a publication agreement or a copyright transfer agreement (both legally binding contracts) usually transferring ownership of copyright to the publisher who then determines how you may use your own work.
(By transferring your rights to a publisher, you will lose some or all of the above rights.)
Scholars who sign away all rights may utilize their work under the "fair use" provisions in copyright law, just like any other user.
Copyright Management
A Balanced Approach
| Authors | Publishers |
|---|---|
| Retain the rights you want | Obtain a non-exclusive right to publish and distribute a work and receive a financial return |
| Use and develop your own work without restriction | Receive proper attribution and citation as journal of first publication |
|
Receive proper attribution when your work is used If you choose, deposit your work in an open online repository where it will be permanently and openly accessible |
Migrate the work to future formats and include it in collections |