Keeping or transferring your copyright
Authors retain copyright of their work, unless they transfer all or specific rights with an agreement, typically with publishers. Author transfer agreements are important opportunities to negotiate with your goals in mind.
- Copyright Law: The Basics (PDF)From the U.S. Copyright Office.
- Keep Your CopyrightsFrom Columbia University’s Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts: Advocacy for authors, including both an explanation of copyright with an excellent glossary of terms, and contracts.
- Forms and Model Documents for Permissions and Release formsIncludes student work release, model/speaker release, Blackboard and iTunes pages, copyright permission, etc.
Licensing your work for broader use
Authors who retain copyright can designate acceptable uses with Creative Commons licenses. These licenses clarify limitations and permissions for publication and use of your work.
- Creative Commons License GeneratorGenerate a license for sharing your work.
Author contracts and author rights
It is important to know what rights you retain to your work after publication: Are you able to share a copy of your manuscript with friends? Can you legally post a copy on your webpage? The website SHERPA/RoMEO records author rights information for journals and publishers, allowing you to find out what rights you will have before you even submit the manuscript.
- Author Rights RetentionAlthough they often ask for a transfer of a copyright, publishers require only the author’s permission to publish an article, not a wholesale transfer of copyright.
- Copyright as a SUNY EmployeeGenerally, faculty retain the copyright for their classroom materials, online instructional materials, and research publications (unless they transfer copyright during the publication process).
- Registering a WorkAlthough copyright is automatically granted from the moment of creation, registering your work with the Copyright Office conveys additional benefits and legal recourse in the case of copyright infringement.
- Self-archivingA comprehensive guide to self-archiving your work (publicly sharing a copy of your publication on a website).
- SHERPA/RoMEOUse this database of publishers to determine what rights you may retain to your work.
- SPARC Author’s AddendumAn addendum to include with your publication’s agreement to protect your rights as an author.
- Work for Hire (PDF)From the U.S. Copyright Office: Work for hire falls under different copyright law; the copyright typically is held by the employer, not the creator.
