Copyright Transfer Agreements
Traditional Publishing
Authors will be required to sign a Copyright Transfer Agreement (also referred to as Copyright Assignment Agreement) with the journal. For the process to move forward, journals/publishers may require the author(s) to transfer all or some of your copyright to the work. Example: Wiley
Keep in mind:
If you transfer all of the copyright and retain no rights, you may no longer be able to
- Reuse your work.
- Distribute your work online and with your students.
- Deposit the work in Elevate.
Best Practices
Be cautious of predatory publishers that do not allow you to retain any rights. Review the publisher’s website to determine what rights you are granting them and what rights you retain.
- Review copyright provisions before signing any contracts with publishers.
- Consider licensing your work using a Creative Commons License instead of transferring copyright.
- Retain a copy of the Copyright Transfer Agreement.
- Retain a copy of the Post-print manuscript.
Resources
- Reviewing Publisher Agreements Checklist
- SPARC Addendum to Publication Agreement
- Open Policy Finder: An online website with aggregated information about thousands of publishers' policies. Open Policy Finders provides comprehensive breakdowns of publication information, publisher policy, and record information.
Green Open Access
Authors will retain the copyright to preprints and post-prints but not the published versions. A version of the work will be accessible in an open-access repository with limited conditions imposed by the publisher.
Source: Based on Oberländer, A. (2020). Open Access – Es ist nicht alles Gold, was glänzt. In: Open Science. Von Daten zu Publikationen. Zenodo.
https://zenodo.org/records/4018594 (CC BY 4.0 International)
Resources
RVU Elevate
Elevate is committed to Green Open Access whenever possible and provides access without barriers. Authors must own the copyright (and have been granted permission by rights holders) for the work they are depositing into the Institutional Repository. This includes any materials that are contained within the body of the work (e.g., images). Authors grant the Frank Ritchel Ames Memorial Library a non-exclusive perpetual license to distribute and preserve digital assets (i.e., deposited materials) for non-commercial use.
Authors are not transferring any copyright privileges to the Library or RVU. Authors retain all copyright to their works and can reuse/distribute the work however they see fit.
Publications in Elevate
Submitted
Original manuscript that was submitted to the publisher and has not undergone formal peer review.
Synonyms: Authors' Original Manuscript, Author's Original, Submitted Version, Pre-Print
Accepted
The final version of the manuscript has undergone formal peer review. Post-print manuscripts have not been typeset or branded by the journal. The vast majority of publishers will only allow authors to deposit the Post-print into an Institutional Repository.
Synonyms: Author's Accepted Manuscript, Accepted Manuscript, Accepted Version
Published
The final version of the manuscript that is published in the journal.
Synonyms: Published Version, Publisher's PDF, Version of Record, Official Version
