Author rights, your rights

Many academic authors believe it is necessary to transfer their copyright to the publisher when they publish a scientific article. This however, is not the case. Copyright is something that lies with the author, and that he can dispose of as he sees fit. He can choose to transfer his copyright to the publisher, but this often leads to him not being able to do what he wants with his work. He does not have to do this. An author can also authorize the publisher to publish his work by using a licence. With this licence a publisher can publish as usual and if necessary still take measures against illegal copy making. For the author a licence means that he retains the right to publish his work somewhere else, for example freely accessible on the internet, or on a department’s website, or an improved version in a different medium.

SURFdirect, SURF’s digital rights expert community, has produced a short film on Author rights, your rights.

Dublin City University officially launched its institutional repository, DORAS

Dublin City University officially launched its institutional repository, DORAS (DCU Online Research Access Service). From the announcement:
The [DCU] Library held a special event on Tuesday 4th November to launch DORAS....
DORAS provides access to DCU’s research publications through a single interface which showcases its scholarship on a global scale. Professor Eugene Kennedy, Vice President for Research, spoke about the importance of DORAS in terms of increasing the visibility and impact of DCU’s research output. He noted that amongst the top ten downloads from DORAS in September 2008, were a number of PhD theses and remarked on the importance of the research commons as a dedicated space for PhD students to work on their theses and the opportunity the space afforded for cross-disciplinary networking and collaboration. He strongly encouraged all those in attendance to deposit their research papers in DORAS.