Author Rights

Create Change
Targeted at scholars and researchers, this site describes how the scholarly communication landscape has changed in the Internet age and what benefits it has generated in the dissemination of scholarly information. The Canadian version of this site is available here.

Manage Your Intellectual Property
Created by the University of California Office of Scholarly Communication, this site discusses why retaining certain copyrights will enhance the dissemination, use, and impact of published scholarly works.

Open Access Directory: Author Addenda
A list of author addenda created to help authors retain their rights.

Retaining Rights & Increasing the Impact of Research
This MIT Libraries site addresses why it is important for authors to retain some rights to archive and reuse their publications. It also provides links to relevant online resources.

RoMEO
This tool provides a summary of permissions that are usually given as part of a journal publisher's copyright transfer agreement. Its accompanying site, JULIET, provides a summary of research funders' policies as part of their grant awards and will be of use to grant-funded authors.

Scholar's Copyright Addendum Engine
Tool to generate an addendum to a journal publisher's copyright transfer agreement in order for an author to retain certain rights.

SPARC Canadian Author Addendum
This page provides information on how to use an author addendum designed especially for Canadian academic authors. The French version of this page is available here.

SPARC's Author Rights Initiatives
This site informs academics of how to use the SPARC Author Addendum to retain their rights as authors of journal articles.

Digital Repository

Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR)
This is a directory of academic open access repositories. It also enables users to search the content of the indexed repositories.

Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR)
This is an online finding aid for academic open access repositories. There is also the feature of searching the content of registered repositories.

Open Access

Developing Open Access Journals: Resources
This is an annotated list of online resources for open access journal publishing. It accompanies a useful guide that outlines issues to be addressed in the process of developing an open access journal. (The guide is an abridged version of the book, Developing Open Access Journals: A Practical Guide.)

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
This resource categorizes open access journals in various disciplines and provides a platform for searching the contents of some open access journals.

Open Access Basics
Introduces readers to open access and provides links to relevant online resources.

Open Access Bibliography
Provides an overview of open access concepts and presents over 1,300 works about the open access movement.

Open Access Directory
A compendium of lists about open access to science and scholarship.

Open Access Journal Business Guides
The Budapest Open Access Initiative offers guides on business planning for converting a subscription-based journal to open access, business planning for launching a new open access journal; and includes a model business plan (a supplemental guide for open access journal developers and publishers).

Open Access News
This blog reports the latest news about open access and various scholarly communication issues.

Open Access Overview
An introduction to open access for those who are new to the concept. There is an abridged version of it.

Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook (OASIS)
This site covers the concepts, principles, advantages, approaches, and means to achieving open access. It offers textual and multimedia materials to inform researchers, librarians, publishers, administrators, public, and students of relevant issues.

Open Access Update
Presents sources for current news about open access and scholarly communication topics.

Open Access Webliography
Presents a wide range of electronic resources related to the open access movement that are freely available on the Internet.

SPARC Open Access Newsletter
A monthly newsletter discussing the latest developments in the open access movement and reporting noteworthy news in the area of scholarly communication.

Scholarly Communication

General Sites

Association of College & Research Libraries: Scholarly Communication
A list of ACRL's initiatives and resources in the area of scholarly communication.

Association of Research Libraries: Scholarly Communication
A page with links to resources for various topics such as author rights and scholarly publishing models.

Campus-based Publishing Resource Center
This site addresses the development and maintenance of campus-based publishing partnerships between libraries, presses, and other academic units. Among the available resources is a guide, Campus-based Publishing Partnerships: A Guide to Critical Issues, by Raym Crow. There is also the LIBPRESS listserv to facilitate relevant discussions.

Developing a Scholarly Communication Program in Your Library
A guide to building, promoting, and evaluating a scholarly communication program. Examples are provided to illustrate the actions involved in developing the program.

Digital Scholarship
A portal that offers a wealth of information on open access and scholarly communication issues. Some of the resources are DigitalKoans, Scholarly Electronic Publishing Bibliography, and Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog. The site also offers quick guides to author's rights and institutional repository.

Institute on Scholarly Communication: FAIR (Freely Accessible Institute Resources)
Developed by the faculty and alumni of the ARL/ACRL Institute on Scholarly Communication, this site features resources for outreach, staff development, and program planning and development.

Supplementary Online Content from SPEC Kit 299 Scholarly Communication Education Initiatives
Presents a variety of online resources for scholarly communication education and outreach efforts. Includes examples of libraries' committee charges, blogs, newsletters, etc.

Selected Research Library Sites

The following sites demonstrate how selected academic libraries explain and address scholarly communication issues on their campuses:

Columbia University
Focused on Columbia's scholarly communication program, this site provides both basic and more advanced levels of information and advice for Columbia University faculty members and community. It also provides links to videos on different scholarly communication issues.

Cornell University
A straightforward and comprehensive introduction to scholarly communication and its implications for faculty. Includes information on copyright management, serials pricing, affordable publishing, open access, NIH reporting, and other topics.

Georgia State University
Informs the Georgia State University community about scholarly communication issues and develops strategies for addressing them.

North Carolina State University
Links to information for faculty on digital scholarship and publishing.

University of California
News, advice, local initiatives, and a wealth of practical information prepared by the Office of Scholarly Communication for the UC community and other scholars.

University of Illinois
This resource for the University of Illinois community is intended to encourage dialogues between faculty and publishers, between faculty and the library, between faculty and their scholarly societies, and within departments.

University of Minnesota
This wide-ranging resource includes links to the University of Minnesota author's addendum, a self-playing slide show on author's rights, and a background page on copyright policies.

University of Tennessee
A solid background on scholarly communication, with links to local action, national associations, and advocacy measures.

University of Texas at Austin
Heavy focus on NIH policy, with background and links to further information on copyright, author's rights, and open access.

University of Washington
This site addresses key scholarly communication issues and is intended to support the work and needs of faculty, researchers, students, and librarians.

University of Wisconsin-Madison
This site brings together information for the UW-Madison community to illuminate such issues as copyright, the scholarly publishing landscape, and open access initiatives.

For other research library sites, please refer to Supplementary Online Content from SPEC Kit 299 Scholarly Communication Education Initiatives.

Selected College Library Sites

Bowdoin College
Introduction, resources, and glossary for the Bowdoin community, with a strong focus on author rights.

Macalester College
Keeps the Macalester community informed of ongoing developments in the areas of author rights and copyright, digital scholarship, open access journals, open digital archives, recommendations from scholarly societies, and public policy.

Oberlin College
Background and links to many scholarly communication resources, especially those from Create Change and SPARC.

Williams College
Overview, selected resources on open access, author's rights and new publishing models, and background on Williams College Library's participation in scholarly communication initiatives.

Organizations

Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS)
Comprised of nearly 5,000 members from across the United States and 42 countries from around the globe, ALCTS is the premier resource for information specialists in collection development, preservation, and technical services. We are the leader in the development of principles, standards, and best practices for creating, collecting, organizing, delivering, and preserving information resources in all forms.

Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL)
The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, is a professional association of academic librarians and other interested individuals. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academic library and information professionals to serve the information needs of the higher education community and to improve learning, teaching, and research.

Association of Research Libraries (ARL)
ARL provides leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations.

Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL)
CARL is the leadership organization for the Canadian research library community. The Association’s members are the 27 major academic research libraries across Canada plus Library and Archives Canada, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) and the Library of Parliament.

Coalition for Networked Information (CNI)
Dedicated to supporting the transformative promise of networked information technology for the advancement of scholarly communication and the enrichment of intellectual productivity.

Creative Commons (CC)
A nonprofit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.

EDUCAUSE
EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology. EDUCAUSE helps those who lead, manage, and use information resources to shape strategic decisions at every level.

Information Access Alliance (IAA)
A joint initiative of leading US national library organizations to address problems in the scholarly and legal publishing markets, which are characterized by insupportably high prices, accelerating industry consolidation, and anti-competitive practices by some large publishers.

Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA)
Represent the interests of Open Access (OA) journal publishers globally in all scientific, technical, and scholarly disciplines.

Public Knowledge Project (PKP)
A research and development initiative directed toward improving the scholarly and public quality of academic research through the development of innovative online publishing and knowledge-sharing environments.

Public Library of Science (PLoS)
A nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.

Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)
An international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system.

Science Commons
Science Commons designs strategies and tools for faster, more efficient Web-enabled scientific research.

Students for Free Culture
A diverse, non-partisan group of students and young people who are working to get their peers involved in the free culture movement.