Scholarly Publishing

When your article is reviewed and accepted for publication, you will typically be asked to sign a standard agreement that transfers most (if not all) of your rights to the publisher. This makes them the copyright holder of your work and limits what you can do with it going forward. As an author, you have the following rights unless you transfer the copyright in a signed agreement:

• Reproduction (Ability to reproduce your work)
• Distribution (Ability to share/distribute your work)
• Public performance (Ability to present/perform your work)
• Public display (Ability to display your work publicly)
• Modification of the original work

Publishers will require certain rights. For instance, they cannot distribute your work unless you give them that right. However, you do not necessarily have to sign over all of your rights. And you should be wary and carefully read any agreement. Some agreements can limit your ability to store your work in a repository or even to re-use your data in future publications.

It's important to note that a publisher may be willing to negotiate terms. You can correspond with them and try to negotiate for certain allowances, if you don't like the agreement that's offered.

How do I get copyright of my work?

The moment you create it in a "tangible form", whether published or not, you have copyright over that work. No one else may copy, distribute, or perform your work without your permission.

• Copyright & Fair Use: Under Section 107, certain uses of information are not subject to copyright law. There are four important criteria that are used to determine if the use of copyrighted material was fairly used:
  1. How the work is being used. Non-profit and educational organizations are given leeway under Section 107 to use some content, as long as the purpose of the use is educational.
  2. The 'nature' of the work. Factual excerpts from published work are more likely to be deemed acceptable for use in academic settings.
  3. The amount of material used. Small excerpts are acceptable. Whole works, such as an entire article from a journal's website, are not.
  4. Effect on the copyright holder. If the use will damage the potential market for the copyright holder, the use is less likely to be considered fair.
• TEACH Act: Online instructors have one more piece of legislative support. The Technology, Education and Copyright Harmonization (TEACH) Act of 2002 extends an instructor's legal use of copyrighted materials in online instruction. The Act was designed to provide more access to material for online educators. There are several key criteria, but the three most important to online instructors who are developing course materials are:
  • The material cannot be from a textbook that students are supposed to purchase.
  • The material may only be portions of the original work.
  • Access must be limited to a specific set of students.

Open Access Journals are a great resource for information and scholarship. Making information more freely accessible is a noble goal and publishing works in OA journals is a great way to contribute. There are, however, complications to consider such as reputation of the journal and sustainability. Some OA journals will require payments to publish in them, as that is how they fund the work that goes into maintaining them. Payment should not, however, even guarantee publication. If payment ensures publication or improves your chances, you're most likely dealing with a predatory journal.

There are benefits to publishing in an OA journal. Besides supporting free and affordable research, publishing in an OA journal can result in a wider readership for your article! Rather than having your work locked behind a pay wall, any scholars can access and view your work.