What can authors do?

Choose your Publisher with Care

Try to retain copyright and control of your own scholarship

The ownership of your work is a key factor in the ability of some publishers to charge high prices and places restrictive licenses on it, thereby curtailing the number of people who can see and cite your work. It is common for publishers to request a transfer of copyright when you publish traditionally.  Many publishers now will tell you that you "retain copyright", but you are forced to sign over all the rights of copyright, so your copyright retention is meaningless.  Once you transfer all your rights, you may need to ask permission or even pay a royalty to post your own work, distribute copies to colleagues or to classes, or even to update or create a new edition of your work.

• Find out more before choosing a publisher. Many authors don't think about the author agreement or costs when choosing a publisher and are surprised when it is too late. Will you be required to transfer copyright or all rights? Will you be able to post a copy of your article or book chapter in an institutional repository or on your web site? Will you be able to use your own work in teaching? How much will your book likely cost?
• You may try to negotiate your author agreement with the publisher after an article is accepted for publication to ensure your right to use your work as you see fit. This can be difficult, as many publishers refuse to negotiate, so choose your publisher with care.  At the very least, you can ask to see a copy of the license before you sign.  The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) offers an author’s addendum and brochure on their scholarly communication site that you can use to help negotiate for better copyright terms. 
• Post a version of your article or book chapter in MSU Commons, an institutional repository if your author agreement allows.
• Publish open access with a model that allow you and others to use your work more freely than a traditional author agreement.  See MSU Support for Open Access Publishing and FAQ. 

Awareness and Advocacy

Refuse to submit papers to, review papers for, or be on editorial boards for unreasonably expensive journals or journals with unreasonable restrictions on use and dissemination

• Examine the pricing of any journal that you contribute to or edit.  
•  Ask your subject specialist librarian about the reputation of various publishers for expense and licensing restrictions and check the SHERPA-RoMEO for more information about individual journals.
• If you are an editor of a costly commercial journal, consider moving your journal to a non-profit publisher and/or explore various open access publishing options.  
• If you are in leadership or vote in your scholarly society, encourage them to maintain reasonable journal prices for libraries, to explore alternatives to contracting with commercial publishers, and to engage in scholarship-friendly practices such as making articles freely available after six months.  

Support discussions and action around these topics on campus

• Support the MSU Libraries' decisions not to subscribe to unreasonably expensive or restrictively licensed materials.
• Discuss departmental promotion and tenure expectations to envision changes that reward quality publication in venues that allow for the widest dissemination rather than rewarding a published article as an end in itself.

Dialog with your MSU Librarians

Are you involved in any way in projects that seek to transform scholarly communication? Do you want to talk about these issues further? At the MSU Libraries we would love to hear from you about these topics. Please contact your subject specialist librarian.