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home J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library, Resources and Services Increase Your Scholarly Impact: Use the SPARC Author Addendum

Increase Your Scholarly Impact: Use the SPARC Author Addendum

By Taira Meadowcroft   Posted in J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library Resources and Services
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Your article was recently accepted for publication and you want to make sure your research has the widest reach and impact. One way to make sure this happens is retaining your author rights.

Traditional publishing agreements sign your copyright away to the publisher, lessening your impact as an author. When you don’t hold your copyright, you might not be allowed to give copies to your class or distribute it among colleagues. And depending on what you sign, you aren’t allowed to put your article on your webpage or in an online depository, further limiting your exposure.

So how do you make sure you retain your copyright? Publishing agreements are negotiable. Know your rights and consider using the SPARC author addendum* to modify your agreement. The SPARC author addendum is a free and legal resource that helps you easily modify your publishing agreement.

Need help or have questions? Visit our know your rights guide or contact your subject librarian.

*The Author Addendum is a free resource developed by SPARC in partnership with Creative Commons and Science Commons, established non-profit organizations that offer a range of copyright options for many different creative endeavors.

home Resources and Services Retaining Your Author Rights

Retaining Your Author Rights

By Taira Meadowcroft   Posted in Resources and Services
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Don’t Sign Away Your Rights!

Traditional publishers’ agreements often transfer copyright from the author to the publisher, giving them the right to reproduce and redistribute your work.

The most important thing you can do is read your copyright transfer agreement. Don’t like what it says? You can amend the agreements to retain the rights you need to make copies of your work and to share it with others.

Examine your publishers’ agreements

What is the publisher requiring of you? Those agreements that require you to transfer all your rights limit what you can do with your own work—that is, you are no longer the copyright holder.

If your publisher agreement reads something like: “the undersigned authors transfer ownership of copyright, including the right to publish and distribute the work by any means, method, or process whether now known or to be development in the future, to the Publisher,” consider amending the agreement.

Agreements that let you retain control of your work often have phrases like: “I grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish my work”; “I understand that no rights are transferred to the Journal”; or “I understand that a Creative Commons license will be applied to my work.”

Modify your agreements when needed

Publishing agreements are negotiable. Know your rights and consider using the SPARC author addendum to modify your agreement.

Deposit your work in MOspace

If you’ve retained the right to post to an online archive, submit your work to the MOspace Institutional Repository. An institutional repository, like MOspace, is one of the best ways to disseminate and preserve your work.  As an open access tool, MOspace ensures that current and future generations of scholars benefit by finding your work.

More information on retaining your rights.

home J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library, Workshops Introduction to Dimensions, Oct. 11

Introduction to Dimensions, Oct. 11

By Taira Meadowcroft   Posted in J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library Workshops
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Date: Friday, October 11, 2024
Time: 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Online via Zoom
Registration

The Introduction to Dimensions webinar will showcase how researchers can use this powerful database to find collaborators, track funded activity, identify trends and more.

 

Division of Research, Innovation & Impact

home Ellis Library, J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library, Resources and Services Protect Yourself and Your Research from Predatory Journal Publishers

Protect Yourself and Your Research from Predatory Journal Publishers

By Taira Meadowcroft   Posted in Ellis Library J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library Resources and Services
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Predatory publishing doesn’t just take advantage of authors by misrepresenting review, editorial, and fee structures. It also hinders access to the work itself, hurting the overall enterprise of research. The epidemic of predatory journals reached serious enough heights in 2016 that the Federal Trade Commission charged OMICS, one such publisher of hundreds of predatory journals, for its deceptive practices.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” says Janice Dysart, Science Librarian and creator of the Where to Publish Your Research guide. “Be wary of these email solicitations from publishers trying to get you to submit articles to their journals.” She recommends using the Think Check Submit checklist to determine whether a publisher is legitimate.

Anyone can fall victim to predatory journal publishers. Jung Ha-Brookshire, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, College of Human Environmental Sciences, and Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Textile and Apparel Management, relates her experience after a graduate student recommended a journal a few years ago. She says, “I didn’t think twice about it. We submitted our paper and got accepted without any revisions. Then they were asking us to send money somewhere in Pakistan.” She still didn’t realize what was happening because she hadn’t even heard of “predatory journals.”

That all changed about a year later when she learned of a list of predatory journals from her colleagues. “We found out that our journal was on that list,” she says. They tried to withdraw their work from the publication but couldn’t. Because the journal wasn’t legitimate, the article could only be found via the specific URL and not by searching, so they pulled the publication information from their CVs. Jung says, “We had to take that manuscript as a loss because we couldn’t even take that paper to other publishers since, technically, it is already published.”

After that experience, Jung now checks with her subject librarian, Noël Kopriva, every time she encounters a journal she hasn’t heard of, “no matter how good the website looks.” Jung advises, “Be careful with choosing the right journals. Do not get fooled by address, location, a beautiful website, and a wonderful set of editorial board names. Check with your librarian first when in doubt!”

For more information on how to spot predatory journal publishers, see our Where to Publish Your Research guide or contact your subject librarian

Originally published in 2018 by Jen Gravley, Research and Instruction Librarian