Retain Certain Copyrights

Copyrights are actually a bundle of rights. They can be transferred in their entirety by the author to a publisher, or the author can transfer only certain rights. Traditionally in scholarly publishing, publishers require the transfer of the entire bundle of rights as a condition of publication.

However, you do not have to surrender all copyrights when you publish. See seven points to understand about copyright for more information.

What You Can Do

At Minimum

Transfer copyrights but reserve some rights: Use these techniques and language to modify the language of the publishing contract to transfer non-exclusive rights to the publisher.

Ideally

Keep copyrights and transfer limited rights to the publisher: Use these techniques and sample publishing agreements to transfer limited rights to the publisher.

Submit work to publishers with enlightened copyright policies: Many publishers are liberalizing their policies to help achieve a balance between their interests and those of their authors.

• In the American Physical Society's transfer of copyright agreement, copyright is transferred but clear and extensive rights are retained by the author. See the agreement: [PDF]
• The UK’s SHERPA/RoMEO project provides data about the copyright policies of 95 major scholarly publishers.

The Office of Scholarly Communication (OSC) is not part of University Counsel and is not legal counsel to the University or to any members of the University community. A goal of the OSC is to provide information to help members of the community better address their scholarly communication needs. The information provided here is intended only as guidance, not as a substitute for legal counsel. Please consult an attorney if you have questions regarding a specific copyright transfer agreement or publishing contract.