Research Guides: Academic Publishing: Protecting Authors' Rights

These documents have been approved by the Office of Research and General Counsel for faculty to use in rights negotiations. Please direct any questions to the Scholarly Communications Librarian, Devin Soper.

Copyright Agreement Addendum
This document can be used to amend a publishers copyright transfer agreement, and serves as a starting point for negotiating your retention of rights that you wish to retain. Approved by Legal Counsel in the Office of the Vice President for Research.
Copyright Agreement Addendum Instructions
Step-by-step instructions for using the FSU Copyright Agreement Addendum.
Repository Agreement
This is the agreement that is necessary for the library to archive your publications in the institutional repository. You may complete this for each article, or discuss a wider scope agreement with the Scholarly Communications Librarian.

Developing a basic understanding of the rights you hold as author of a work is essential in the changing framework of scholarly publishing. Below are a few general resources:

Author's Rights Tout de Suit
Gives journal article authors a quick introduction to key aspects of author's rights and to fosters further exploration of this topic.
Authors Alliance Right's Reversion Guide
Explains the process by which an author of a book that has fallen out of print or that is not doing well commercially can reacquire copyright and the right to share the work more freely
Bibliography of articles on Author's Rights
Copyright Addendum - Science Commons
A online form that when filled out produces a copyright addendum specific to your information.
Copyright Toolbox
Walks through the major issues involved in copyright. Specifically geared toward authors.
Cornell University Guide to Negotiating and Amending Author Agreements
Phrases to Look for in Publisher Copyright Agreement Forms (PDF)
From Becker Medical Library, Washington University - St. Louis.
Securing Your Rights (SPARC)
A brief primer on the process and importance of authors rights in scholarly publishing.
Resources for academic authors and editors
Lists of resources for authors and editors of scholarly literature.

Below is a list of addenda for publisher contracts:

Author Addenda: An Examination of Five Alternatives A 2006 article by Peter Hirtle examining five addenda that were current at that time. A good overview of considerations to make when drafting addenda for use by authors.
Big 10 Academic Alliance Author's Copyright Addendum
Big 10 Academic Alliance Author's Copyright Addendum (Brochure)
Cornell University Guide to Negotiating and Amending Author Agreements
MIT Author Addenda Several versions of author addendum (for faculty subject to open access policy, NIH policy, 2013 executive order on public access, and a general addendum) - good examples upon which other schools could draft local addenda
Phrases to Look for in Publisher Copyright Agreement Forms (PDF)
From Becker Medical Library, Washington University - St. Louis.
SPARC Author Addendum (Online Fillable Form)
SPARC Author Addendum (PDF Version)
SPARC Author Addendum (Text Version)
University of Michigan Author's Addendum

OA Subject Repositories:

Open Science Framework Preprints
Simmons College List of Disciplinary Repositories
Open DOAR
Research Papers in Economics (RePEc)
arXiv Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance and Statistics
Confederation of Open Access (COAR)