What Can You Do?

Manage Your Intellectual Property
Consider Where You Publish
Support Sustainable Scholarly Communication

Manage Your Intellectual Property

As a researcher, your intellectual work is your primary asset. Understanding and maintaining your rights are fundamental methods to support a sustainable system of scholarly communication.

"Unbundle" rights: Traditionally, publishers require you to sign a standard contract before publication, usually referred to as a "Copyright Transfer Agreement," "Publication Agreement," or "License to Publish." Often, these contracts transfer all of your rights as a bundle to the publisher. As an author, you have the option to unbundle this package to retain certain rights, such as the abilities to post your work to the public Internet or to use your research in a class setting.   You can suggest changes to the language of the agreement in order to make this happen.  

Scholars may wish to negotiate for the following language which would allow them, at least, to use their own works for their teaching and research purposes.

Sample Publishing Language:

"Owner hereby grants the author a non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free perpetual and irrevocable right and license to copy, distribute, display, and perform this Work, in whole or in part, and to incorporate the Work, in whole or in part, in his/her teaching and research activities including publication of the on the author's non-profit educational Web site and to fullfill deposit mandates from funders such as the NIH."

More resources:

• The Digital Scholarship & Publishing Center serves as a resource to the NC State community on scholarly communications issues, and can provide advice on how to retain key rights for your work. Contact us to get advice on modifying publishing agreements and retaining rights.

• The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) provides "practical guidance when submitting journal articles", including an addendum to affix to publication agreements, specifying rights you wish to maintain.

• The Association for Research Libraries has created a "Know Your Copyrights" brochure and an FAQ with resources for teaching faculty.

New alternatives for the dissemination of research and scholarship may halt the trend that limits scholars' access to essential research resources and from realizing the full impact of their work. If utilized, these innovations will yield new benefits to scholars, increase the breadth of dissemination, maximize the impact of and the return on investment for research funding, and more fully support the growth of knowledge.

One of the ways scholars can significantly impact the scholarly communication system to maximize impact and the benefit of scholarship is by considering the most cost-effective and widely available options for publication. The NCSU Scholarly Publications Repository offers you the opportunity to make versions of your publications openly available to researchers across the world. Web resources offer various metrics that you can use to assess the quality, cost-effective sustainability, and impact of journals in which you are considering publishing.

• Open Access Journals The aim of open access scholarly publishing is to make high quality, peer-reviewed scholarly content available free on the web. A common misconception about open access as a publishing model is that anyone may post what he or she likes on the Internet. In fact, scholarly open access journals apply rigorous peer review to their content. The "open" refers to the free availability of research to the public, not to the removal of the refereeing process that has been the basis of scholarly publishing for three centuries. Open access is in every way compatible with rigorous peer review.

• Digital Repositories Open Access journals are not the only way to achieve free access to scholarly literature. Many journal publishers allow authors to deposit their works in open access digital repositories. Digital repositories enable:
  • Increased access to research
  • Greater impact for research

Even if you have transferred your copyright, most publishers allow posting to an educational institution's web site or repository. Check the "SHERPA" database to see the policy of your publisher/journal. To date, this database includes moderate to large-sized journal publishers, with 74% of publishers allowing authors to deposit copies of their articles in repositories. Journals or publishers whose policies are not available from SHERPA may have relevant information on their own sites, under headings such as "copyright" or "information for authors."

To determine your rights to deposit your works in open-access repositories, please visit the NCSU Libraries Digital Repository Guidelines Web site.

Scholars who are officers of scholarly societies or members of journal editorial boards can exert their influence in a number of ways. Encourage your society to publish its journal with a publisher that supports sustainable pricing practices, fair licensing, and open access for its authors.

The University of California Office of Scholarly Communication has developed the following list of best practices for scholarly societies:

Society Best Practices

1. Eliminate the use of publication revenues to underwrite other activities which places upward pressure on publishing revenue; generate publishing revenue at or near the cost recovery point, thereby minimizing price inflation and maximizing use and impact of scholarship.

2. Avoid partnering with or outsourcing publishing operations to profit-maximizing commercial publishers.

3. Provide authors the maximum flexibility to use their scholarly work whenever possible by retaining only the "right of first publication" for the society.

4. Maximize the use of research findings in journals and other publications by minimizing price and other access barriers; preferably include an option of open, free access to all potential readers.

5. Provide alternative forms of dissemination that are timely, broad-based, and use technology effectively to enhance the knowledge base of readers.