The information as provided in this section is not intended to serve as legal guidance or advice. Authors are encouraged to consult the WU General Counsel’s Office for advice on specific issues or situations.

Becker Library Services in Support of Author Rights

• Assist with author rights issues
• Review a copyright agreement form
• Provide contact information for publishers
• Contact journal publishers to obtain information/permission on your behalf
• Locate publisher copyright policies and stipulations
• Help authors comply with publisher stipulations
• Provide a Digital Object Identifier number (DOI) for an article
• Advise authors on strategies to comply with the NIH policy
• Provide a listing of peer reviewed journals specific to your field of study that allow authors to retain rights
• Submit your NIH-funded research article to PubMed Central on your behalf
• Group presentations on author rights and related issues at a location of your choice or at a WU Library
• Personal consultations on author rights and related issues at a location of your choice or at a WU Library

Background

Authors retain copyright of their work as soon as the work is in a fixed, tangible medium. Copyright is a bundle of various rights that allows the holder to retain ownership and rights as to the use, dissemination, display, and modification of the work in digital or print format in connection with academic and professional activities. Authors are encouraged to anticipate their future needs and to retain the rights they need in order to optimize dissemination of their research. In today’s digital world, the right to disseminate and reuse the work is almost as important as the content itself. Some of these rights include:

• use part of the work as a basis for a future publication
• send copies of the work to colleagues
• comply with the NIH Public Access Policy or other funding agency policies
• present the work at conference or meeting and give copies of the work to attendees
• use a different or extended version of the work for a future publication
• make copies of the work for personal use and educational use
• self-archive the work in an institutional repository
• use graphs, charts, and statistical data for a future publication
• post the work on a laboratory or institutional web site on a restricted network
• post the work on a laboratory or institutional web site on a publicly available network
• use the work for educational use such as lecture notes or study guides
• comply with public access mandates
• deposit supplemental data from the work in an institutional or subject repository
• place a copy of the work on electronic reserves or use for student course-packs
• include the work in future derivative works
• make an oral presentation of the work
• include the work in a dissertation or thesis
• use the work in a compilation of works or collected works
• expand the work into a book form or book chapter
• retain patent and trademark rights of processes or procedures contained in the work

Under the traditional academic publication model an author typically transfers all ownership and rights to a publisher. If an author relinquishes all their rights under this model, they significantly decrease their ability to control their work and have no further rights to use the work without permission from the publisher. Advances in digital technology have allowed for new ways of dissemination with many publishers offering authors options for management of their copyright with very flexible use conditions that meet the needs of both parties. No longer do authors have to transfer all their rights in a single bundle in exchange for publication.

Many publishers grant authors certain rights up front and there is a wide range of what rights are allowed including stipulations for use. Some publishers allow for unrestricted dissemination of the work to colleagues, unlimited copies for personal use, posting of the final published version on an institutional web site or subject repository, use a graph or chart for a future work, to comply with public access mandates, to name a few. However, these rights may come with stipulations for use which vary among publishers. Some publishers will allow authors to use only the post-print version and not the publisher’s final version, with instructions to link the post-print version to the publisher’s final version. Other stipulations include noting the Digital Object Identifier number (DOI) to the final published version of the work, adding a statement as provided by the publisher, an embargo period before an author can reuse the work, a limit on the number of times a work can be sent to colleagues, a limit on the number of copies that can be made for classroom use, to name a few.

What Rights Should Authors Retain?

Authors are encouraged to retain the rights they need in order to reuse and disseminate their work in connection with academic and professional activities. Those who teach may want to consider retaining rights to be able to make copies of their work for classroom use, use for lecture notes, or for posting on electronic reserves. Bench and clinical scientists may want to post their work on a laboratory web site, present their work at a conference or meeting, disseminate copies of the work to their colleagues, post the work on a subject repository, deposit their supplemental data in a public repository, include their work on a publicly available web site so that research results can be made accessible to the public, comply with public access mandates or use graphs or charts from a work in a future publication, to name a few. Doctoral students may want to retain the right to include their work in a dissertation or thesis or to post the work on an institutional or subject repository.

Authors who receive funding from agencies that have public access mandate policies may need to retain the right to comply with these policies. Examples of public access mandates are the NIH Public Access Policy and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Policy on Public Access to Publications.

How to Locate Publisher Copyright Policies

1. Review the publisher’s copyright agreement form of a specific journal to determine what rights a publisher allows authors to retain and stipulations that must be followed. Note that policies may vary among journals published by the same publisher.
2. Look under “Instructions for Authors” or “Copyright Information” on the journal web site. Many publishers provide detailed information for authors as to what uses are permitted under the publisher’s copyright policy for a given journal.

Some journal publishers have not updated their copyright agreement forms to correspond with the information provided in the instructions for authors section. Authors are encouraged to carefully review the publisher copyright agreement form before signing to confirm that the anticipated uses and rights or the rights granted up front by the publisher are outlined on the form. If not, authors should seek clarification from the publisher before signing and ask if you can include an addendum. In some instances, a publisher will send a new copyright agreement form.

Phrases to Look for in Publication Agreements

Here are some sample clauses and stipulations as found in various publisher copyright agreement forms.

No Information on the Publication Copyright Agreement Form or the Journal Web Site?

If there is no information available on the publisher copyright agreement form or on the journal web site, contact the publisher or Editor in Chief of the journal to seek clarification. In many instances, publishers have not updated their web site content or the publisher copyright agreement form but are amenable to authors who contact them for clarification. Another option is to find alternative journal publishers that grant flexible uses to authors or allows authors to negotiate. Contact the Scholarly Communications Specialist at Becker Library to locate publisher policies on your behalf or to receive a listing of peer reviewed journals specific to your field of study that allow authors rights to their work.

How Authors Can Negotiate Rights

In some cases it may be necessary to negotiate with a publisher in order to retain rights that are not expressly noted by the publisher on the journal web site or the publisher copyright agreement form. One way for authors to negotiate is to discuss their needs with the publisher or Editor in Chief. In most cases, the publisher or Editor in Chief will support the author’s rationale in favor of retaining of certain rights. Once an agreement is reached authors are encouraged to confirm what was agreed upon by doing one of the following:

• Ask the publisher to send a new copyright agreement form.
• Ask the publisher if you can attach an addendum to the publisher’s copyright agreement form in order to retain the rights as desired. See Addenda for Authors section for more information.
• Insert the rights you wish to retain in the publisher copyright form. Some publisher copyright agreement forms include a space for authors to insert rights they wish to retain. As follows is an example:

“If there are any elements in this manuscript for which the author(s) hold and want to retain copyright, please specify: __________________________.”
[Physical Therapy]

• Some authors amend the publisher copyright agreement form by crossing out the specific clauses that they do not agree with and insert the rights they wish to retain. Before doing so, review the publisher’s agreement form to make sure that there is no clause that stipulates that changes have not been made to the agreement form. As follows is an example:

“SIGN HERE FOR COPYRIGHT TRANSFER: I hereby certify that I am authorized to sign this document either in my own right or as an agent for my employer, and have made no changes to the current valid document . . .”
[ACS Journal of Natural Products]

Authors who opt for this practice should initial any additions or clauses that they have added or crossed out. However, authors are strongly encouraged to discuss this option with the journal publisher or Editor in Chief before selecting this method.

Addenda for Authors

An addendum is an attachment to a contract or form that modifies, clarifies, or adds to the contract. There are a variety of addenda available for authors to use in order to retain rights that are not explicitly stated on the publisher copyright agreement form. If authors attach an addendum, add the statement “Subject to Attached Addendum” next to your signature on the publisher copyright agreement form.

Before doing so, review the publisher’s agreement form to make sure that there is no clause that stipulates that changes have not been made to the agreement form. As follows is an example:

“SIGN HERE FOR COPYRIGHT TRANSFER: I hereby certify that I am authorized to sign this document either in my own right or as an agent for my employer, and have made no changes to the current valid document . . .”
[ACS Journal of Natural Products]

Customized Copyright Addendum

The Washington University Copyright Addendum form will generate a customized PDF that authors can attach to a journal publisher’s copyright form to retain specific rights that are not expressly stated by the publisher. WU authors are NOT required to use the WU Addendum.

Use the online tool to generate an addendum customized with the rights you wish to retain.

• View Sample Customized Form

Scholar’s Copyright Addendum Engine

The Scholar’s Copyright Addendum Engine created by Creative Commons allows authors to choose from four addenda which will automatically generate amendments to a publisher’s copyright agreement for authors to retain certain rights to their work.

NIH Addendum Language

For authors who are required to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy, NIH provides suggested language to use as a means of retaining the right to comply:

“Journal acknowledges that Author retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to the NIH upon acceptance for Journal publication, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication by Journal.”

NIH Addendum Form

• Ready to use NIH Addendum Form for authors who wish to retain the right to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.

According to NIH:

“Authors own the original copyrights to materials they write. Consistent with individual arrangements with authors’ employing institutions, authors often transfer some or all of these rights to the publisher when the journal agrees to publish their article. Some publishers may ask authors to transfer copyrights for a manuscript when it is first submitted to a journal for review. Authors should work with the publisher before any rights are transferred to ensure that all conditions of the NIH Public Access Policy can be met. Authors should avoid signing any agreements with publishers that do not allow the author to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.”

Authors are strongly encouraged to seek confirmation from publishers before submitting a manuscript for peer review to verify that a publisher will allow authors to retain the right to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.

Federal Funding Addendum

Some authors who receive non-NIH federal funding support may want to retain the right to submit their work to a government-sponsored digital repository or a subject-based repository or an institutional repository such as DSpace at Washington University Becker Medical Library.

“Journal acknowledges that Author retains the right to deposit a copy of the final manuscript (peer-reviewed version), upon acceptance of Journal publication, for public archiving in a government-sponsored digital repository or institutional repository as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication by Journal.”

Federal Funding Form

• Ready to use Federal Funding Form for authors who receive non-NIH federal funding support.

For more information on the NIH Public Access Policy, please refer to Complying with the NIH Public Access Policy.

What Should Authors Do if a Publisher Does Not Accept an Addendum?

There are several options if a publisher does not accept an author’s addendum.

1. Contact the publisher or the Editor in Chief to find out why the addendum was rejected.
2. Find an alternative publisher that allows authors to retain rights as needed. Contact Cathy Sarli to find alternative publishers.
3. Negotiate with the publisher to resolve your differences.

If you have any questions regarding author rights and your options as an author, please contact Cathy Sarli, Scholarly Communication Specialist at Becker Library.

The concept of public access mandates is based on the premise that government funded research results should be freely available without barriers to taxpayers who provide support for the funding. Research results are typically disseminated in the form of manuscripts (journal articles) published in subscription-based journals. Many of these manuscripts are now available in electronic format via the Internet, which provides an ideal mechanism for widespread sharing of research results. However, many of these electronic journals are beyond the reach of public taxpayers and libraries due to cost and publisher-imposed licensing restrictions. Supporters of public access mandates argue that it is unfair for taxpayers who underwrite the funding of the research to be expected to pay again for access to the results of that research.

Proponents for public access mandates assert that sharing of vital scientific discoveries leads to innovation, increases the impact of research, expands the visibility of scientists, accelerates discovery of research findings, leads to new cures, and provides for the transfer of research knowledge to clinical applications. One organization that advocates access to federally funded research is The Alliance for Taxpayer Access. Opponents of public access mandates assert that the model would cause harm to the publishing industry, poses copyright issues and compromises the peer review process.

The original version of the NIH Public Access Policy was adopted in May 2005 and requested that all investigators submit their NIH-funded final, peer-reviewed article for posting in the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central (PMC).

The revised NIH Public Access Policy was voted into law in December 2007 and as of April 7, 2008 the revised policy requires that investigators submit their NIH-funded final, peer-reviewed article or research report or review for posting in the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central (PMC).

Specifics of the NIH Public Access Policy:

(As noted on: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/FAQ.htm)

• The Policy applies to you if your peer-reviewed article is based on work in one or more of the following categories:
  • Directly funded by an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 or beyond.
  • Directly funded by a contract signed on or after April 7, 2008.
  • Directly funded by the NIH Intramural Program.
  • If NIH pays your salary.
• The Policy applies to all peer-reviewed journal articles, including research reports and reviews. The Policy does not apply to non-peer-reviewed materials such as correspondence, book chapters, and editorials.
• The final, peer reviewed manuscript includes all graphics and supplemental materials that are associated with the article. The final peer reviewed manuscript is the version submitted by the author to the publisher after making changes as a result of the peer reviewed process. This is not the final published version from the publisher.
• PubMed Central (PMC) is the NIH digital archive of full-text, peer-reviewed journal articles. Its content is publicly accessible and integrated with other databases.
• Institutions and investigators are responsible for ensuring that any publishing or copyright agreements concerning submitted articles fully comply with this Policy. Authors should work with the publisher before any rights are transferred to ensure that all conditions of the NIH Public Access Policy can be met. Authors should avoid signing any agreements with publishers that do not allow the author to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.

• As of May 25, 2008, when citing an article in NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports that falls under the Policy, and was authored or co-authored by you or arose from your NIH award, you must include the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) or the NIH Manuscript Submission system reference number (NIHMS ID). This policy includes applications submitted to the NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.

Sources: Overview of the Public Access Policy and NIH Public Access Policy FAQs

Authors are strongly encouraged to seek confirmation from publishers before submitting a manuscript for peer review to verify that a publisher will allow authors to retain the right to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.

For more information:

• NIH Public Access Policy
• Flowchart for NIH Public Access Policy Compliance
• NIH Public Access Policy Chronology of Events
• Scholarly Communications Update@Becker

The Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) was first introduced in 2006 by Senators Cornyn and Lieberman and would require that eleven U.S. government agencies with annual extramural research expenditures over $100 million make manuscripts of journal articles stemming from research funded by that agency publicly available via digital archives maintained by the agency or other suitable repository within six months of publication. This amounts to more than half of the research in scientific journals and about 30% of the research in clinical journals. In 2006, Congress adjourned without voting on FRPAA. FRPAA was reintroduced by Senators Cornyn and Lieberman in June 2009 (S 1373).

For the most current information on FRPAA, consult:

• THOMAS FRPAA/Bill 1373/ Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) status
• Alliance for Taxpayers Access FRPAA update
• Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition FRPAA general information
• Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition FRPAA information for faculty members and university administrators

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that provides funding for biomedical research and science education in the U.S. Last year, HHMI provided grant funding of nearly $700 million dollars for biomedical research and distributed $80 million for support of science education.

In June of 2007, HHMI announced that effective January 2008 it will “require its scientists to publish their original research articles in scientific journals that allow the articles and supplementary materials to be made freely accessible in a public repository within six months of publication.” An acceptable public repository is PubMed Central, NIH’s digital repository. This new policy expands upon the existing policies that require HHMI scientists/authors to share databases, published research, and software.

Many journals publishers have entered into agreements with HHMI in support of the HHMI Policy on Public Access to Publications. To assist authors in complying with the policy, HHMI provides a listing of publishers containing information about publisher policies and author responsibilities, Journal Publisher Policy Resource.

Autism Speaks is a non-federal organization that provides funding for biomedical research in order to better understand the causes of autism and to advance its prevention, treatment and cure. In promotion of understanding and sharing knowledge about the causes of autism, Autism Speaks implemented a public access mandate, Policy on Public Access to the Research We Fund. The policy stipulates that all peer-reviewed works supported in whole or in part by Autism Speaks grants awarded after December 3, 2008 must be made available in PubMed Central. Authors are to submit a copy of the peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central upon acceptance of publication with the full text to be available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication.

Additional resources:

• How to Deposit an Article in PubMed Central
• Reserving the Necessary Rights in Your Publishing Agreement

Information technology and the transition of print to digital means of dissemination have revolutionized the publishing industry and, as a result, the process of communicating scientific discovery through the traditional publisher model has dramatically changed. Communication of the scientific record is now disseminated from a vast array of disparate digital sources to advance the research in science and medicine with accessibility ranging from beyond the walls of the library and campus borders to our users’ desktops.

The transformation from print to digital format has had a profound impact on Becker Library. In 1997, we held few materials in digital format with the majority being in print format. As of 2008, we hold 3,486 journals in digital format, 170 journals in both print and digital formats, and 107 print only journals (active subscriptions). We provide access to over 100 electronic databases and nearly 2,000 electronic books with more titles being added regularly. Ten years ago, we did not offer proxy accounts to our users; nowadays this is one of our most requested resources.

Becker Library is committed to providing our users with the scholarly resources that are needed to support their research and academic needs, especially for journals. In recent years, this has posed some challenges due to the current environment of escalating publication costs. To ensure that our journal collection includes sustainable titles with the greatest impact and local usage, our Collection Management team:

• Performs detailed analysis of our journal collection using impact factor criteria
• Purchases journals in bundles if less expensive than individual title purchase
• Engages in consortia agreements to reduce costs and maximize access
• Shares journal expenses with the Danforth Campus Libraries
• Provides access to journals from new publishing models

In addition, our Becker liaisons perform collection analysis to ensure that our collections contain the most high-quality and relevant resources in the subject matter of their assigned departments or programs. New scholarly resources are added frequently to reflect new advances in medicine and clinical care.

For more information on the increasing costs of journal pricing data please refer to Ted Bergstrom’s Journal Pricing Page.

With the increasing cost of journal subscriptions from publishers rising far beyond inflation, several new models of publication offer promising means of wide-spread and immediate dissemination of research findings without financial or accessibility barriers.

The Open Access model advocates unfettered access to scientific research in peer-reviewed journals in digital format that are free from most copyright and licensing restrictions. Most open access publishers subject manuscripts to peer review before publishing. The only difference between the open access model and the traditional publication model is that the author retains all copyright to their work with the open access publisher holding a license to the work. See the Publishing Models Chart for more information. For an excellent discussion of open access, please refer to A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access by Peter Suber.

In most open access publications the author pays an article processing fee to offset the cost of publication. Some open access publishers offer memberships to allow for a discount for article processing fees for authors, and in some instances, publishers will waive the fee for authors who do not have the funds and for authors from developing countries. However, some funding agencies are moving to provide support for authors by paying this fee. NIH, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Wellcome Trust are examples of funding organizations for biomedical research that provide article processing funds for authors as part of the grant award. For more information on funding agencies and their policies on open access and funding of article processing fees please view the BioMed Central Summary of Funding Agency Policies on Open Access.

Becker Medical Library provides access to many journal titles published by open access publishers such as BioMed Central and PLoS (Public Library of Science). Through a membership to BioMed Central, Washington University authors are eligible for a 15% discount on article processing fees.

For a listing of open access journals, please consult DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals). The Directory of Open Access Journals lists journals that use a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access.

Despite their relative infancy in the field, open access journals are ranking high in an impact factor studies done by ISI. Among the titles scoring high are Respiratory Research, Arthritis Research and Therapy, Breast Cancer Research and Critical Care.

Many traditional journal publishers are offering authors the option of participating in an open access means of dissemination. In this Hybrid model, authors pay an up front fee to designate their article as “open access” to allow anyone access to the article without a subscription to the journal. Open access articles are mixed with non-open access articles in the same journal issue. Among the publishers that offer this option are Oxford Journals (Optional Oxford Open), Karger (Author’s Choice), and Springer, with author fees ranging from $1,000 to $3,000. As with open access publishers, funding agencies are moving to provide support for authors by paying this fee for authors. View the BioMed Central Summary of Funding Agency Policies on Open Access.

A recent study by Eysenbach showed that these open access articles in the hybrid model are well received. Eysenbach, G. (2006) Citation Advantage of Open Access Articles. PLoS Biol 4(5): e157 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040157

Repositories range from those hosted by an institution to house the intellectual property created by that institution or repositories that are subject based such as biomedicine or physics. While some repositories perform peer review functions, most serve simply as a repository for materials (published and unpublished) such as manuscripts, theses, supplemental data, conference proceedings, student posters, faculty notes, newsletters, to name a few examples. To locate a repository use the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR).

Institutional Repository

• Becker Library DSpace
  • The purpose of DSpace at Becker Library is to house and preserve the intellectual output of Washington University and make the work available to anyone without restrictions. DSpace will accept pre-prints, post-prints, conference posters, departmental newsletters, departmental histories, student papers or posters, conference proceedings, and other works in a variety of formats ranging from text, audio, video, and images. Many publishers will allow for deposit of works in an institutional repository. Consult Sherpa-RoMEO to view what publishers allow. For more information on DSpace, please contact Betsy Kelly, Associate Director for Digital Initiatives.

Subject-Based Repository

• PubMed Central
  • PubMed Central (PMC) is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. PMC was started in 2000 and contains over half a million articles, including supplemental data, most of which have a corresponding entry in PubMed. Authors who publish manuscripts based on research funded by NIH are strongly encouraged to deposit their work in PMC.
• arXiv
  • arXiv is an e-print service hosted by Cornell University in the fields of physics, mathematics, non-linear science, computer science, and quantitative biology.

Often lost in the debate over scholarly communications issues is the importance of preserving the intellectual output of our scholars and the scholarly resources that we’ve invested our expenditures in for future generations. Two projects devoted to ensuring access and preservation of our intellectual output and scholarly resources are DSpace and membership to Portico.

DSpace

The purpose of DSpace at Becker Library is to house and preserve the intellectual output of Washington University. DSpace will accept pre-prints, post-prints, conference posters, departmental newsletters, departmental histories, student papers or posters, conference proceedings, and other works in a variety of formats ranging from text, audio, video, and images. Many publishers will allow for deposit of your works. Consult Sherpa-RoMEO to view what publishers allow. For more information on DSpace, please contact Betsy Kelly, Associate Director for Digital Initiatives.

Portico

Becker Library has a membership to Portico, an electronic archiving service whose mission is to preserve scholarly literature published in electronic form and to ensure that these materials remain available for users. Becker Library is also working with the Danforth Campus Libraries in investigating additional ways to preserve electronic content that we’ve invested in.