OA Author Rights

Intro to Publishing Agreements

Publishing companies often require authors to assign all copyright of their works to the publisher as a requirement for publication. This is not always necessary; there are ways to negotiate retention of some author rights. Many publishers can negotiate author sharing policies, which allow authors to retain certain rights to their works, such as sharing their works openly on an institutional repository like Purdue e-Pubs. Even if you have already signed an author agreement, you still may be able to share your work. We can help determine if your work can be shared; send the author-accepted manuscript and the citation of your work to epubs@purdue.edu. For more copyright information, visit the Purdue University Copyright Office.

View the resources below to learn more about author sharing policies before and after publication.

Before Publishing	After Publishing
Jisc open policy finder (formerly Sherpa services): Find author sharing policies for your target journal. Search by publisher name, journal title, or ISSN to discover details. Learn where your work can be shared and which version of the work can be shared.	Jisc open policy finder (formerly Sherpa services): Find author sharing policies for journals in which you’ve published. Contact epubs@purdue.edu to deposit eligible versions in Purdue e-Pubs.
Addendum to Publication Agreements for BTAA Authors: This recommended addendum, created by the Big Ten Academic Alliance, allows authors to retain enough rights to their work to share the work on their institution’s repository after a period of six months from the date of publication.	Purdue Author Addendum Letter Requesting Deposit of Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM): This form letter to publishers requests permission to deposit the author accepted manuscript (AAM) after the article has been published if the publisher does not allow sharing based upon SHERPA/RoMEO.
Purdue Author Addendum Letter for Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM): This form letter to publishers requests permission to deposit the author accepted manuscript (AAM) before the article has been published.	Publication Eligibility Review Service: Free service for the Purdue community. Send a list of publications to epubs@purdue.edu, requesting a review. Staff review publisher sharing policies, check for eligible versions, create metadata records, and post your works to Purdue e-Pubs.

For additional assistance with understanding author rights and author agreements, please contact Nina Collins,scholarly publishing librarian, or Marcy Wilhelm-South, senior library administrator, Purdue e-Pubs.