Learn more about copyright for publishing, such as:
Typically, before publishing a journal article or book, you will be asked to sign a copyright assignment agreement which assigns all or part of your rights as an author over to the publisher.
Once copyright is assigned to the publisher, this means you are no longer the copyright owner of the work. This may restrict how you can share or reuse your work later on. For example: whether you can host it on your website, archive it in the institutional repository, or send it to other researchers and students.
Copyright assignment has traditionally been a common practice when entering into publishing agreements for print journals and has now been extended to electronic journals. However, the effects of copyright assignment in the today's digital environment where electronic sharing is common may potentially be restrictive for the author.
While there may not be much room for you to negotiate with the publisher in such publishing agreements, you should be mindful that assignments of copyright are perpetual and irrevocable. If there are any rights that you wish to retain (for example, a perpetual licence for you to reproduce or use your own work for non-commercial, educational purposes), this is something that you may wish to discuss with your publisher.
The SPARC Author Addendum is a legal instrument that you can use to modify your copyright transfer agreements with non-open access journal publishers. It allows you to select which individual rights out of the bundle of copyrights you want to keep, such as:
Source: SPARC (2018). The SPARC Author Addendum. https://sparcopen.org/our-work/author-rights/. Last accessed on 11 March 2025.
It depends on the specific terms of the publisher's copyright transfer agreement.
For example, the American Physical Society's website has a section on publication rights with copyright FAQs and the copyright transfer agreement. It helps to explain the copyright transfer agreement and common questions regarding it.
You can check Open policy finder for a particular journal title or publisher to see information on what the publisher allows you to do with the different versions of the article and if there are any conditions attached. If you’re still not sure how to use the Open policy finder website, you can contact us at library@ntu.edu.sg.
While many journals will allow you to upload the published or accepted version of your article to your website with the appropriate bibliographic citation and copyright credit line, some publishers may not allow it or will require an embargo.
If you have submitted a version of your article to NTU’s institutional repository DR-NTU, you can also use your article’s handle link in your website. If you are still not sure how to submit your article or link it, you can contact us at: library@ntu.edu.sg.
As the original author of the journal article, many journal publishers will allow you to reuse all or part of the article in your thesis, either without asking for permission or by obtaining clearance through RightsLink. However, policies vary, so you should always check the terms of your publishing agreement with your publisher. If you want to learn more about using RightsLink, click here. If the agreement does not clearly address thesis reuse, it is best to contact the journal for clarification.
In all cases, always remember to provide the appropriate bibliographic citation and copyright credit line in your thesis.
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