As an author, you have certain rights to your work that publishers often require you to turn over in exchange for publication in a journal, publishing a monograph, or producing artistic content. Now more than ever it is crucial that you understand your rights as an artist, author, or creator of any sort. The Office of Digital Scholarship and Communication can provide guidance on negotiating a publication contract, as well as choosing the proper license to assign to your work.
Creative Commons Licenses are a series of legal statements that provide a set of conditions by which users of copyrighted material must abide. An author can choose from six licenses with various "flavors" of the four conditions, or she can choose to assign a CC0 license and waive all rights to the work. Each license is paired with simple explanations of rights for users, as well as legal code.
Use this tool to choose the CC license that is right for your work.Copyright provides authors a bundle of rights with which you are able to negotiate when publishing. The resources below will guide you as you navigate the negotiation process.
A book publication contract (also called a publishing agreement) is one that deserves careful attention. Its terms can affect your control of your book and dictate your rights and obligations for many years to come.
The SPARC Author Addendum is a legal instrument that you can use to modify your copyright transfer agreements with non-open access journal publishers. It allows you to select which individual rights out of the bundle of copyrights you want to keep.