As the author of your scholarly works, you are the sole copyright holder unless you transfer that copyright to someone else (such as a publisher). Below are some resources to help you understand copyright, your rights as an author, and how to retain those rights as you disseminate your work.

Sharing your accepted manuscript through an open access platform can increase its reach and ensure access for years to come. Before doing so, you need to understand what your publishing contract allows. If you consider these issues prior to signing your publishing contract, you can advocate for yourself and negotiate for the rights or licenses you desire.

Determine what version of the manuscript you want to share:

Open Access Australia: What are all the different journal article versions?

This article explains the differences between the different manuscript versions which may be referenced in your publishing contract.

Research Publications’ Policies:

Sherpa

A searchable database produced by the UK nonprofit Jisc, aggregating and analyzing publishers' copyright and open access policies.

Understand Your Rights:

The SPARC Guide to Author Rights

An explanation of author rights as well as SPARC's Author Addendum which authors can submit to publishers to request an amendment to their publishing contracts.

Considerations Before Signing a Publishing Contract:

Kansas State Libraries' Author Rights Checklist

A worksheet to help authors analyze their needs before signing a publishing contract.

Accessing Your Submitted Manuscript After Publication:

Direct2AAM: Helping Authors Find Author Accepted Manuscripts

If you would like to share your submitted manuscript but no longer have the correct version, this guide will help you determine how to access it through different publishers' submission websites.

Choose a License

Creative Commons License Chooser

You may wish to retain the rights to your article or share it more permissively to encourage adaptation and reuse. Creative Commons licenses are widely used and this license picker can help you pick the most appropriate one.