Introduction
Copyright Information
Southern University and A&M College faculty and students can strengthen their understanding of copyright and its relevance to teaching, research, and scholarly communications through our comprehensive resources. These materials offer guidance on rights management, copyright law, and the ethical use of scholarly content—empowering the Southern University community and advancing knowledge across academia.
📘 Explore the Copyright Basics Guide
The copyright information provided by the John B. Cade Library is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Copyright Basics
Copyright law in the United States is designed to encourage creativity by protecting original works while ensuring access to ideas that inspire new ones. Our Copyright Basics resources provide a concise overview of core principles to help you understand how copyright influences teaching, research, and publication.
🔗 Learn More: Copyright Basics
Sharing Scholarly Work
Understanding how copyright applies to the sharing and communication of scholarly work is essential for every researcher. Visit our guide on Sharing Scholarly Work & Open Access to learn how copyright law shapes open access, publishing agreements, and digital dissemination.
Fair Use
Fair Use allows faculty and students to make limited, reasonable use of copyrighted materials without seeking permission. Determined by four factors outlined in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act, Fair Use is fundamental to teaching and scholarship.
Whether showing films in class, sharing materials with students, or using copyrighted works in research, understanding Fair Use in Teaching is vital. Fair Use also plays a key role when responding to Copyright Claims before the U.S. Copyright Claims Board or in formal proceedings.
📝 Use the Fair Use Checklist to evaluate the four factors.
Copyright and Publishing
Southern University faculty, researchers, and graduate students generally retain copyright ownership of their scholarly work—unlike traditional employment contexts where employers hold those rights.
The Long-Term Value of Copyright
Digital scholarship allows for easy updating, reuse, and sharing of work across global networks. The value of maintaining ownership of your scholarship has never been greater.
Learn About Your Options
Be proactive in managing your scholarly copyrights. Seek advice, ask questions, and take charge of your academic legacy early in your career. Established researchers can also benefit from strategic rights management to increase the visibility and impact of their work.
Copyright Management Strategies
- Assign copyright to your publisher: Transfers ownership; you’ll need permission to reuse.
- License your work: Grants limited rights for specific purposes or timeframes.
- Carve out rights: Retain certain permissions, such as to:
- Post your work on personal or institutional websites
- Share through academic or research networks
- Meet public-access requirements for funded research
- Deposit in Digital Commons @ SUBR
Copyright and Open Licenses
Understanding Copyright and Open Licensing for Academic Works
After publication: Open Access via repositories
University libraries offer you the option of submitting the full text of your publications for inclusion in the institutional repository (see here for more information). Typically, the published version of an article cannot be shared in this way under copyright; however, a preprint or Author Accepted Manuscript often can, sometimes with an embargo period. To check which versions of an article are allowed to be shared and the conditions, you can use the JISC Open Policy Finder.
🌊 Open Copyright Education Advisory Network (OCEAN)
The Open Copyright Education Advisory Network (OCEAN) offers copyright education for libraries, archives, museums, and cultural institutions.
OCEAN also hosts free, live interactive copyright discussions. Visit their website to learn more and register for upcoming sessions.
© Southern University and A&M College. John B. Cade Library — Digital Commons @ SUBR.
Copyright and Creative Commons Handouts and Resources
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The Future of Scholarly Publishing : Open Access and the Economics of Digitisation
by
The formal scientific communication system is currently undergoing significant change. This is due to four developments: the digitisation of formal science communication; the economisation of academic publishing as profit drives many academic publishers and other providers of information; an increase in the self-observation of science by means of publication, citation and utility-based indicators; and the medialisation of science as its observation by the mass media intensifies. Previously, these developments have only been dealt with individually in the literature and by science-policy actors. The Future of Scholarly Publishing documents the materials and results of an interdisciplinary working group commissioned by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) to analyse the future of scholarly publishing and to make recommendations on how to respond to the challenges posed by these developments. As per the working group's intention, the focus was mainly on the sciences and humanities in Germany. However, in the course of the work it became clear that the issues discussed by the group are equally relevant for academic publishing in other countries. As such, this book will contribute to the transfer of ideas and perspectives, and allow for mutual learning about the current and future state of scientific publishing in different settings.
Call Number: Electronic TextbookISBN: 9781928331551Publication Date: 2017
