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You own your copyright, unless you sign it over to another person or entity.
Am I giving The Ohio State University
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Librariesor the Knowledge Bank my copyright?
No. Depositing your work in the Knowledge Bank requires only a license of your copyright. This license requests only those rights for deposit in the Knowledge bank that are necessary to “…reproduce, translate, and/or distribute the submission (including the abstract) as agreed upon, in print and electronic format and in any medium, including but not limited to audio or visual for the purposes of inclusion in the Knowledge Bank. You also agree that the Knowledge Bank may make and retain more than one copy for the purpose of preservation, security and backup.” (Click here to see the full license agreement.)
What if a journal publisher refuses to publish my article because of this prior license?
You can try using an author addendum (see next question), try to publish in a different journal or you can ask for a waiver.
What is an author addendum?
An addendum is an additional section or form that you can add to your author’s agreement. This document will return some limited rights to you in your scholarly work (Use the OSUL addendum or CIC addendum).
What is a waiver? How may I request one?
If you have made an attempt to retain rights, but are unsuccessful, you may request a waiver from compliance with the policy. You must contact the Director, or her a designate, to request the waiver. (Click here for steps on how to request a waiver.)
Should I take the license to OSUL/Knowledge Bank into account if I am seeking permission from a third party to incorporate material (an image, for example) in the published article?
Yes, be sure to get permission for any of your uses of third party material in all forms of media which should take into account inclusion in an open access repository. If you are unable to attain permission for this use you may request a waiver or submit a version of the document without the third party material.
What happens if I do not opt out, but assign exclusive rights to a publisher anyway, mistakenly signing a publisher’s agreement that conflicts with the policy?
Please be sure to read any agreement before signing it. The OSUL license takes precedence, but you may ask for a waiver from the Director, or a designate, if you are unable to retain any republishing rights from the publisher.
How do I determine if my publisher allows me to place my article in the Knowledge Bank?
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