Ownership and Publishing Outside of UWEX Cooperative Extension
Submitting manuscripts to journal and textbook publishers is an essential part of the scholarship process. This information is provided as a primer on finding a publisher and how to protect your rights as an author.
- How do I find a publisher?
- Who owns the content in scholarly publishing?
- Don’t forget to add an addendum to the publishing contract!
1. How do I find a publisher?
Before selecting a publisher, investigate the copyright policies on how you can reuse and distribute your work; where the journals are indexed so others can find your article(s); the impact of the journal; and the cost of the journal. You may wish to consider publishing in an open access journal as open access journals could provide greater impact due to the exposure provided by the Web.
See “Publishing Your Research Article” for links to suggested databases to determine topic coverage, impact factor, and copyright policies. Links to advice on writing and submitting scholarly articles also are available.
The UW-Madison Office of Scholarly Communication & Publishing can work with you. Contact Lee Konrad, Interim Program Chair, for assistance. Barbara Lazewski, UW-Madison Steenbock Library liaison to Cooperative Extension, can help with finding publisher information and impact factors.
2. Who owns the content in scholarly publishing?
When preparing to write an article for that esteemed scholarly journal or a chapter in a colleague’s textbook, it is in your best interest to decide who will own the copyright for the content. Since journals and textbooks currently are published outside of Cooperative Extension, you will be asked by the publisher to sign an agreement that assigns copyright as a condition of publishing your material. The publishing agreement limits your ability to use or adapt your content, post it to the web, or share it with colleagues without permission from the publisher.
3. Don’t forget to add an addendum to the publishing contract!
We strongly suggest you submit an addendum to the publisher’s contract. There are several examples available for your use. However, the UW-Madison Faculty Senate “supports the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Provosts’ Statement on Publishing Agreements and encourages the use of the Addendum to Publication Agreements for CIC Authors” to ensure that academic authors retain certain intellectual property rights that facilitate archiving, instructional use, and sharing with colleagues to advance discourse and discovery.”
Return to copyright policies page.
