Open access publishing and self-archiving help ensure research is available in a free and unrestricted manner. Authors can help influence the direction of publishing, access to, and re-use of their intellectual creations. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) can be used to identify discipline specific open access journals. The DOAJ contains links to more than 8,000 scholarly and research open access full text journals and articles published across a variety of disciplines. The SHERPA/RoMEO website provides information on publisher copyright & self-archiving policies. SHERPA/RoMEO identifies publisher archiving policies by color:
Examples of open access journals include:
Each of these journals permits an author to retain copyright to their works under a Creative Commons license. By using a Creative Commons license, authors are able to select from a variety of options and tools to license, share, and create derivatives of their works. AUC faculty members interested in finding open access journals in their subject areas are encouraged to consult The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
When you are interested in sharing your work, but still want to manage how it is used by others, using Creative Commons Licensing may be an option. Creative Commons gives authors a set of tools to license their intellectual creations. Some publishers have begun to use Creative Commons licensing terms for author submissions to their journals. Creative Commons provides six types of licensing options. The licenses are as follows:
|
Attribution -- Others can distribute, adapt, and build upon your work as long as you are given credit. This applies for both commercial and non-commercial use. |
Attribution-ShareAlike -- Others can distribute, adapt, and build upon your work as long as you are given credit. The new work that is created must be licensed under the same terms. This applies for both commercial and non-commercial use |
|
Attribution-NoDerivs – Others can redistribute your work in its entirety, without any alterations as long as you are given credit. This applies for both commercial and non-commercial use. |
Attribution-NonCommercial – Others can distribute, adapt, and build upon your work as long as you are given credit. This applies only for non-commercial works. The derivative work can be licensed under different terms. |
|
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike – Others can distribute, adapt, and build upon your work as long as you are given credit. This applies only for non-commercial works. The new work must be licensed under the same terms. |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs – Others are only able to download and share your works as long as they credit you. No changes to your works are allowed. Commercial use is not permitted. |
Traditional publishing agreements may require authors to relinquish copyright control to the publisher. With these agreements authors must seek permission to reuse, redistribute, and or post their work. Publishing agreements can vary, and, as those agreements vary so can an author’s rights to retain the copyright of their intellectual creations. It is important to understand the options that exist to help you manage your right to reuse, redistribute, and self-archive or post your work. As an example, you may be able to negotiate the terms of publication through providing your publisher an author addendum. Several universities provide examples of author addenda to assist their faculty and student authors negotiate their publishing rights. These institutions include:
Berkeley University Boston University
Columbia University Harvard University
Princeton University University of Michigan
There are a number of organizations and resources to assist you in understanding different models for publishing and rights management. These organizations include the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association, and PLOS.
Questions about open access and scholarly communication may be sent to scholcomm@auctr.edu .