Sign-on-the-Dotted-Line or Negotiate: A Copyright Primer for Scholars

Abstract

Scholars tend to sign, uncritically and without negotiation, the copyright transfer forms received from journal publishers. Many publishers - often but not always in the for-profit sector - make these copyright transfers so inclusive (transfer of all ownership and all rights for the duration of copyright), as to hinder broad dissemination of scholarly knowledge. The transfer (or license) form received from publishers should be viewed as no more than their initial proposal, which the authors can get changed with only minor effort. Model license and transfer forms that better preserve authors' rights are available to help ease the burden of negotiations.

Keywords: scholarship, copyright transfer, license, dissemination

JEL Classification: A00