Scholarly Communication
The scholarly communication system intended to support faculty and scholars is now hindering scholarship, restricting access to information and the free flow of ideas, and crippling library budgets. Many publishers ask authors to sign away their copyrights during the publication process. Signing copyright over to a publisher limits an author's ability to redistribute or use their work for teaching, research, posting on websites, or archiving in a repository.
Faculty Author's Copyright Contract Addendum
In 2007, the CIC Provosts approved an addendum for scholarly publication that faculty can use with publishers to secure the right to:
- use, reproduce, and distribute their work in connection with teaching, conference presentations, lectures, and other academic and professional activities
- post their intellectual contributions in an institutional repository or similar community-based archive
- share their work with colleagues to advance academic discourse and discovery and to secure the free flow of scholarly information
A number of faculty governance bodies have already reviewed and endorsed the agreement, with others scheduled to consider the document this fall.
View, Print, Use the Author's Copyright Contract Addendum document.
Universities whose faculty governance have endorsed the statement and addendum as of November 2007:
University of Illinois (Chicago and Urbana-Champaign); Indiana University; University of Iowa; University of Michigan; Michigan State University; University of Minnesota; Northwestern University; University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Additional CIC Activities Related to Scholarly Communication
Provost Michael Tanner (UIC) has written a paper on copyright ownership and control. View "Copyrights and the Paradox of Scholarly Publishing."
In 2006, the CIC Provosts issued an "open letter" in support of FRPAA (Federal Research Public Access Act). View the "Open Letter to the Higher Education Community".
The online publication Inside Higher Ed covered the release of the letter on July 28, 2006 with an article entitled, "Rallying Behind Open Access." View the Insider Higher Ed article.
Report of the CIC Summit on Scholarly Communication: Access to Journal Literature -- February 2005
Report of the CIC Summit on Scholarly Communication in the Humanities and Social Sciences -- January 2004
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