Research Guides

Open Access

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Know Your Rights

More Tools & Resources

See the Tools & Resources tab of this guide for additional information.

Introduction to Authors' Rights

When you publish a journal article, you sign a copyright agreement.  Some journals require you to relinquish your copyright, meaning that you have to ask permission or pay a fee to share your article with others.  Some journals allow you to retain some rights (e.g., the right to post online).  And other journals leave copyright in your hands. You simply give the journal a non-exclusive license to publish the article.

Explore the links below to find out about the copyright policies of specific journals and/or to find tools and resources to help you negotiate a contract that preserves your rights to reproduce, distribute, and display the work you create as a scholar and author.

Copyright

Authors Alliance

The Authors Alliance focuses on the issues of authors' rights, authorship law and policy, reaching audiences, and authorial reputation and integrity.  Resources available on their website include a Rights Reversion Guide & Portal; Open Access Guide & Portal, FAQs, and a Resource Library containing all of their own resources and links to helpful items around the web.