What are author rights?
Author rights are endowed by US Copyright Law. Under the law, authors of works can, unless they transfer their rights to another party: reproduce the work; prepare derivative works based on the work; distribute copies of the work; and perform or display the work.
Most authors choose to transfer their copyright to their publishers by means of a publication agreement when their scholarly work is accepted for publication.
If you have transferred your copyright to the publisher, you no longer have the rights mentioned above: reproduction, creation of derivative works, distribution, performance, or display! You can't post a copy of your article online, if you have transferred copyright to your publisher! Read on to find out more about how to retain your rights.
How can I find out whether I have transferred copyright to the publisher of my work?
If you have kept a copy of your publication agreement, this should say whether or not you have
transferred copyright to your publisher.
Another way to find out is to contact your publisher. Usually publishers have contact information on their websites.
You can find out publishers' general policy regarding self-archiving by checking this database: SHERPA/RoMEO. SHERPA/RoMEO records whether a publisher allows authors to post a copy of their articles, either in a rough format before the article is in its final published version, or in the final published version. In order to be sure of the publisher's policy, however, it may still be necessary to contact the publisher.
How can I keep my rights to distribute my work as I want?
Fortunately, there are methods for you to retain your rights to distribute your article in various ways, when it comes time to submit your next article for publication. When signing formal publication agreements with publishers, you can use an addendum to the agreement. This addendum will reserve certain rights for you, even if you are transferring some rights to the publisher. Present the publisher with the addendum before signing the agreement to be sure that the publisher will honor it.