Author Rights

Button stating "I am an author, I know my rights"Do you know your rights as an author?

The University of Illinois Library’s Author Rights campaign seeks to help scholars take control of their work and their careers by becoming more informed about trends in scholarly publishing.

Your Publisher

You choose WHO can publish your work and how it is disseminated.  Today, that means more than selecting the journals you’ve always published in or the ones your adviser recommends, it means researching and considering which publishers are going to meet YOUR needs. In addition to publishing, you may want to think ahead to other dissemination models — such as an institutional repository — to help make your work as available as possible. To learn more, see our guide on exploring your options when choosing a publisher.

Your Rights

You control WHAT your publisher is allowed to do with your work.  The contract you make with your publisher determines what the publisher can do with your work AND what you can do with your work. Follow our tips for thinking through future uses so you don’t sign them away now.

Background

HOW did we get here?  Scholarly publishing has undergone some dramatic changes. Discover the ways in which the industry has changed and what the impact has been on libraries. Find out how the University of Illinois and the Library has responded.