SPARC Canadian Author's Addendum

There are an increasing number of useful tools out there for academics interested in public licensing. The SPARC Canadian Author's Addendum is one of them:

http://www.carl-abrc.ca/projects/author/author-e.html#addendum

In brief, it's a PDF that you can attach to any publishing contract that allows you to post your article on your own web page, include it in your institution's open access repository, republish it, etc., without going cap-in-hand back to the journal for permission to do so, after you've ceded them your copyright for the privilege of being published. Here's how the site describes this document:

"Traditional publishing agreements often require that authors grant exclusive rights to the publisher. The SPARC Canadian Author Addendum enables authors to secure a more balanced agreement by retaining select rights, such as the rights to reproduce, reuse, and publicly present the articles they publish for non-commercial purposes. It will help Canadian researchers to comply with granting council public access policies, such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Policy on Access to Research Outputs. The Canadian Addendum reflects Canadian copyright law and is an adaptation of the original U.S. version of the SPARC Author Addendum. The addendum is available in both French and English."



(On behalf of Darren Wershler)