Depositing your creative work in the HiR
The HiR accepts and encourages creative works completed by members of the Hiroshima University academic community. These works take on a variety of forms. Of particular relevance concerning copyright issues are theses, book manuscrips and journal articles, although other forms of materials can be affected by copyright issue also.
In the first instance it is recognized that copyright is automatically owned by the author of a work once their creation is in material form. Although there is no obligation to place a copyright statement on such work, it can be of benefit to do so. The author(s) of such work have the right to keep this ownership of copyright, amend the standard license agreement - for example through sharing via a Creative Commons license, - or transfer ownership of their work to anothor by formal agreement. When ownership is transferred, it is most commonly to publishers.
Depositing your creative work on the HiR has no affect on the copyright of the item(s). They remain the right of the original owner. The HiR seeks to enhance the intellectual commons of Hiroshima University through the process of deposit, and highlights the advantages to authors in doing so, such as higher citation rates of works which have been deposited in digital repositories.
The HiR respects the rights of the owners of the copyright of works for deposit, whether they are the authors or the publisher. Contributors are asked to agree to the HiR 'Contributors License', which offers Hiroshima University a LIMITED, NON-EXCLUSIVE LISENCE to disseminate the item through the repository. Permission by the HiR to use the works elsewhere is not required.
Issues regarding of copyright and the right to deposit
Many materials deposited on the HiR are not publised and the owners of th e copyright have no intension of publishing. However, if publishing the work is of interest as author, then the question of ownership of copyright needs to be considered.
- If the work is already published
-
If the work for deposit has already been published, then it will need to be determined who owns the copyright. If it is the publisher, then their clearance will need to be sought in order to deposit the work in the HiR. Many publishers recognize that pre-publication web posting is becoming more common, and more over time are also allowing posting of previously published articles. The policies of publishers vary widely, however, so it is important to be sure the imformation you are working with is correct.
Check the SHERPA/RoMEO listing for your publisher http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php. RoMEO outlines the copyright and repository policies for over 90 publishers and 7,000 scholary journals. If your do not have permission to deposit your work in the HiR, you may need to write directly to the publisher to request this clearance. Hiroshima University staff can help you in this process
- When you are submitting your work to be published
-
When you submit your creative work for publishing, you will be asked to sign a publication agreement. The terms of this agreement will also define copyright ownership over the creative work(s). When the terms of use stated in the agreement reached are different form copyright law, it is best to abide by the terms of contract as well as the relevant clauses of copyright law.
Reading your publication agreement carefully is recommended. Retaining some rights for re-use by you can be of benefit. Depending on the nature of the agreement, you can also try to retain the copyright and give the publisher a license to publish.
An example of an original content may read :
The author transfers exclusively to the publisher copyright (including all rights thereunder) in the work for the duration of copyright and all extensions and renewals thereof, in all languages, throughout the world, and in any form or medium now known or hereafter developed.
An example of language you can add to your contract
Notwithstanding the above language, I reserve the right to use this work in my teaching and research for my colleagues at the Hiroshima University to use this work in their teaching and research, and I also reserve the right to place an electronic copy of this work on a publicly accessible web site.
Many publishers will consent to change in their standard agreements. Certain rights can be maintained by you as author without harming the publisher. For more information, see the Resorce for Author at SPARC website.
It is the hope of Hiroshima University that academic community can share their work through depositing it in the HiR. Understanding copyright is an important part of this process. If you need any futher infomation, please contact us.
