Author Rights and Copyright
Copyright is a bundle of various rights that allows the copyright 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. Creation of scholarly works may require use of copyrighted materials and authors are required to obtain permission to reuse to avoid infringement of copyright law.
A copyright holder can transfer or license specific rights to others. Authors retain copyright of their scholarly works as soon as the work is in a fixed, tangible medium and in most instances, transfer the rights to a publisher upon acceptance of publication of a work. Authors are encouraged to anticipate their future needs and to retain the rights to their scholarly works to optimize dissemination of their research.
See our Author Rights and Copyright Guide for more information.
Digital Commons@Becker
Digital Commons@Becker is a digital repository for hosting the scholarly work created at Washington University School of Medicine and enhancing its visibility and accessibility to scholars, researchers, and the public. Administered and maintained by the Bernard Becker Medical Library, Digital Commons@Becker provides groups, departments, centers, divisions, or programs at the School of Medicine with a platform for creating customized collections that reflect the wide range of their scholarly output.
Collections can include journal articles, meeting abstracts, capstones, research papers, poster abstracts, newsletters, videos, podcasts, books, non-published material, and more. For more information about creating a Digital Commons@Becker collection, please visit the Digital Commons FAQ or contact Brittney Sandler at Becker Medical Library.
Strategies for Authors
Authors are recommended to utilize strategies to optimize discoverability of scholarly works to enhance visibility and impact. Examples of strategies include using standard name/affiliation information, self-archiving scholarly works in institutional repositories, retaining rights to your scholarly works, to name a few.
See our Tools for Authors Guide for more information.
Washington University Open Access Resolution
The Washington University Open Access Resolution was adopted May 9, 2011, and encourages faculty members to:
- Amend copyright agreements to retain the right to use his or her own work and to deposit such work in a University digital repository or another depository, which is freely accessible to the general public;
- Submit a final manuscript of accepted, peer-reviewed publications to one of the University’s digital repositories whenever consistent with the copyright agreement;
- Seek publishers for his or her works committed to free and unfettered access (often referred to as open access publishers) whenever consistent with his or her professional goals.
See our Open Access Guide for more information.