Deciphering Publishing Contracts: Journal Articles

You have expertise in your own discipline, which is probably not copyright and contract law. So it’s likely that you do what most people do when faced with a publishing agreement for a journal article: You sign it without really understanding what it says or grasping its long-term implications, such as transferring ownership of your intellectual property to a for-profit corporation. Attend this workshop to learn about or get a refresher on the basics of copyright and open access. We will also spend time looking at examples of publishing contracts for journal articles and discussing the short- and long-term ramifications of various terms and conditions in them.

Jody Bailey, Head of the Scholarly Communications Office at Emory University Libraries, leads a team of librarians and library specialists who are responsible for services surrounding copyright, open access and publishing, research data management, and open educational resources. The team also manages two scholarly repositories that publish works by Emory faculty and students. Jody is a member of the Board of Directors for the Library Publishing Coalition, and her scholarly interests include open-access publishing, open educational resources, user-centered library services, and outreach activities. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals, presented at numerous conferences, and has a master of arts in linguistics from Louisiana State University and a master of library and information science from Wayne State University.