Copyright retention is not a prerequisite for self-archiving

If you are put off by the endless jeremiads of your weary archivangelist then please do listen to the gentler, ecumenical voice of the Prophet Peter!

Here is Peter Suber's comment in Open Access News on the University of Illinois Provost Linda Katehi's letter to UI faculty that encouraged them to use the CIC author addendum [on retaining copyright] as recommended by the CIC Statement on Publishing Agreements and an Addendum to Publication Agreements for CIC Authors.

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Peter's Comment:

"The U of I is right to encourage faculty to use the CIC author addendum.

"But in the June SOAN, I hoped that CIC institutions would go further:

"...[I]t's not clear what form the encouragement will take. Will it be limited to the abstract encouragement of passing a resolution in the Faculty Senate? Or will there also be some case-by-case encouragement? ...In a standoff between a publisher and faculty member, what will universities do to support their faculty member?

"Here's the bigger question: What else will these universities do to encourage OA archiving? If they take the step of adopting an author addendum, they should also adopt a policy to require OA archiving. If permission is not a problem (because publishers already give it or because an addendum worked), what will these institutions do to insure that faculty postprints are actually archived? ...

"The permission problem is worth solving, but we have to remember that solving it is only a means to the end of OA. Universities adopting an author addendum are moving in the right direction, but they must keep moving. Permission for OA isn't yet OA itself...."

-- Peter Suber, OA News

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Now, for the historically minded, here are some of the past unminded jeremiads on this very point from the American Scientist Open Access Forum, starting as early as 1998, to the effect that while copyright retention is desirable, it is not a prerequisite for OA or OA self-archiving, and hence that university self-archiving policy should not be contingent on retaining copyright. It is much harder to get authors to agree to and comply with a mandate to retain copyright (because it [appears to] put their choice of journal at risk) than it is to get authors to agree to and comply with a mandate to deposit their accepted final drafts in their institutional repositories (the ID/OA mandate). Therefore the weaker mandate should be adopted first, rather than the stronger one. (Copyright retention can wait: OA should not.)

"Copyright retention is not a prerequisite for self-archiving" + 1, 2, 3.

"What Provosts Need to Mandate" + 1, 2.

"Optimizing MIT's Open Access Policy" + 1, 2.

"Cornell's Copyright Advice: Guide for the Perplexed Self-Archiver"

"How to Word Institutional Self-Archiving Policy" + 1, 2, 3.

"US University OA Resolutions Omit Most Important Component"

"Well-Meaning Supporters of "OA + X" Inadvertently Opposing OA"

Stevan Harnad
American Scientist Open Access Forum