Author Rights

This guide is intended to inform McGill University researchers topics of author rights and publication agreements.

This guide includes:

• Key terms in publication agreements
• Resources for locating publication agreements
• Resources for negotiating your rights as an author

What do I need to know?

When you publish your article you enter into an agreement with the journal publisher. The conditions of the agreement will vary and it's important to understand what rights you are retaining and which ones you are revoking. In some cases you might transfer your copyright to the publisher, in which case you may have to obtain permission for future uses of your article. 

Why should I care?

• Funding agencies often require authors maintain certain rights in order to comply with their funding policies.
  • For example, one way to comply with the Tri-Agency Policy on Open Access Publications is to deposit the post-print of the article in a repository within 12 months of publication. Some publishers will permit authors to do this, others will not. 
• You may want to use your article in various ways - for example, post it to a personal website, share it on social media, re-use graphs in future publications etc. You may or may not maintain these rights depending on the agreement you sign. 

This guide is intended for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.