Understanding publishing agreements
Overview
Authors and publishers will generally have a publishing agreement (sometimes referred to as an author or licence agreement) in place when a work is published. As a copyright holder, it is important to be aware of available publishing agreements, look for publishing agreements that best suit current and future dissemination needs. This will help when deciding on a suitable publisher and will help when needing to negotiate further publishing needs.
Publishing agreements vary between publishers and will also vary depending on the type of work, e.g: book, book chapter, journal article, conference paper, etc. Publishing agreements will also be impacted by the type of licensing scheme attached to the publication, such as, Open Access or behind a paywall.
A publishing agreement will generally cover information such as:
- When the work will be published
- The format the work will be published in (print or online or both)
- How many print copies will be made available
- If the author is entitled to any royalties, how they will be shared between the author and publisher, payment terms, etc.
The agreement will also address how copyright in the work will be managed.
Within a publishing agreement, authors are generally asked to warrant:
- Ownership of the work and therefore ownership of the copyright.
- Disclosure of the inclusion of any third-party copyright material (i.e. created by someone else), alongside clarification regarding permissions from the third-party for the material to be included in the completed work.
- That the work contains no libelous or unlawful statements, does not infringe upon the rights or privacy of others and does not contain material or instructions that might cause harm or injury.
There are a number of ways in which copyright can be dealt with under an agreement, some of which are more common in certain disciplines or types of published works than others. Speak with peers, colleagues, faculty research offices and or faculty or school librarian for further information on discipline-specific publishing agreements.
Negotiating author rights
Authors and creators of works are entitled to negotiate certain rights with a publisher. These may include:
- The right to deposit an Open Access copy of the work in an institutional repository (with or without an embargo period)
- Exemptions for teaching and educational purposes
- The right to reuse figures, images, and tables from the work in future publications.
Funder requirements can be useful when negotiating changes in publishing agreements. For example, if a published work is funded by a research grant associated with the Australian Research Council (ARC) or the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) then an open access copy of the work must be made available to read within 12 months of publication. Flag this requirement as early as possible so as to ensure that the publishing agreement aligns with funder policies.
Remember that negotiations with publishers may not go as planned. However, there is nothing to lose by having these conversations. For an insight into the negotiation of author rights, read more in this interview with Associate Professor Alysia Blackham from Melbourne Law School.
The Authors Alliance website offers many resources on publication contracts and rights reversion, including the Open Access ebook “Understanding and negotiating book publication contracts”.
Author assigns copyright to the publisher (copyright transfer agreement)
Generally, when publishing a book, the author grants the publisher a licence. Whereas it is common for authors to assign copyright in journal articles to the journal or publisher. This is a copyright transfer agreement, where the author grants all of their rights as author and copyright holder to the publisher. This means that the author may need to seek permission from the publisher to do any of the following:
- Deposit an Open Access version into an institutional repository.
- Make the published work available on their own website.
- Share the published work with colleagues.
- Teach the published work.
Sometimes, the publisher may grant the author limited rights, such as those described above. Assignment of copyright is generally permanent unless the agreement indicates otherwise.
If the author assigns copyright to the publisher; the publisher can also, at their discretion, enter into agreements with other parties to use the work. For example, the publisher could licence the work, so that it can be included in a subscription database or arrange for a translation to be made.
Author grants publisher an exclusive licence
The author gives the publisher certain rights over their material for the term of the agreement. These rights are granted only to this publisher and might include the right to publish, communicate, and distribute the published work online and to sublicence. How long the agreement lasts can vary, some agreements can be indefinite or perpetual. If the licence includes the right to sublicence, the publisher can grant the rights given to them to a third party, for example to allow another publisher to publish the work in another territory. While the agreement is in place, the author cannot grant the same rights to anyone else.
Author grants publisher a non-exclusive licence
Similar to granting an exclusive licence to the publisher, an author can also grant the same non-exclusive rights to another publisher or party. A non-exclusive licence means that more than one publisher could have the right to publish a work. However, there may be qualifiers within these licenses, such as confirming that one publisher has the right to first publication of the work.
Publishing under a Creative Commons licence
If a publisher intends to publish the work under an open licence, typically a Creative Commons licence, then the work will be made freely available for further distribution under the terms of the licence. The publisher will likely ask for first publication rights, this may be under a non-exclusive or exclusive publishing agreement. If publishing under a more restrictive CC licence such as CC BY-NC-ND, the publisher may request that the remaining rights be exclusively signed over to them. In rare cases, publishers may also ask for a transfer of copyright to the publisher. To understand more about Creative Commons licences, see our page selecting a licence for your work.
There is no publishing agreement
Some publishers do not use publishing agreements, in which case, they only have the right to publish the work for the purpose it was submitted. For example, if an author submits an article to a particular journal and there is no agreement in place, the publisher can only publish the article in the issue for which it was submitted. The publisher is not then able to re-publish the article in an annual collection of popular articles without the permission of the author.