Actually a growing number (though still a minority) of publishers either
don't ask for copyright transfer, or - if the author demurs - will provide a
Licence to Publish document instead. John & Laura Cox, in their regular
studies for ALPSP, found:
"In 2003, 83% of publishers required copyright transfer upon acceptance and
publication.
In 2005 this figure stood at 61% with a further 21% initially requesting
copyright transfer but accepting a licence to publish on request by the
author. In 2005 3% of publishers did not require a written agreement at all.
In 2008 the percentage of publishers requiring copyright transfer has
dropped to 53%. Those that initially request copyright transfer but accept a
licence to publish on request has stayed at a level similar to that in 2003
(19.6%). Publishers that only require a licence to publish have increased
from 17% to 20.8%. 6.6% of publishers now do not require a written agreement
at all..."
Sally
Sally Morris
Partner, Morris Associates - Publishing Consultancy
South House, The Street
Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK
Tel: +44(0)1903 871286
Fax: +44(0)8701 202806
Email: sally_at_morris-assocs.demon.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: American Scientist Open Access Forum
[mailto:AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG] On
Behalf Of Charles Oppenheim
Sent: 15 February 2009 20:11
To: AMERICAN-SCIENTIST-OPEN-ACCESS-FORUM_at_LISTSERVER.SIGMAXI.ORG
Subject: Re: Copright rarely exclusive
Sorry, but many publishers require assignment, which is
not a licence to publish but complete transfer of the
copyright. Then it IS like selling your house or car!
Moral Rights exist in some countries, but not all. in any
case, if you retain your Moral Rights but have assigned
copyright, you get no rights to further copy,so the
question of Moral Rights is not relevant to that
particular debate.
Charles
On Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:20:40 -0800
Heather Morrison <heatherm_at_ELN.BC.CA> wrote:
> Copyright has never been like a house or a car. The
>copyright owner
> typically only transfers some rights to publish. For
>example, with
> scholarly works, there are moral rights that always
>remain with the
> author, such as attribution.
>
> The only right an author really needs to grant to a
>publisher is the
> right to publish. Rights to disseminate and even to
>republish can be
> held simutaneously by more than one entity. In other
>words, copyright
> is not exclusive.
>
> Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the
>author alone, and
> does not represent the opinion or policy of BC
>Electronic Library or
> Simon Fraser University Libary.
>
> Heather Morrison, MLIS
> The imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
> http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com
Received on Sun Feb 15 2009 - 23:38:04 GMT