Scholarly Communication

Once you express your scholarly work in a fixed form (e.g. an article, website, or art work) you own the copyright to that work.  This means you can reproduce, distribute, or alter your work.  You can also publicly display or perform it, or authorize others to use it.  

Although traditional publishers do allow for some type of scholarly sharing, most still ask authors to sign publishing agreements that transfer copyright from the author(s) to the publisher. This means that you cannot legally post a copy of the final version of the article to your personal or institutional website, or include it in a course pack without seeking permission from the publisher.

However, this is not the only option for authors.  You can negotiate with a publisher about retaining your copyright through use of an author addendum, or you can choose to submit your work to publishers who, by default, allow authors to retain their copyright.

The Copyright Office provides support for providing access to works while ensuring that the rights of creators are protected.  

The University of Calgary provides guidelines and policies around intellectual property for graduate students and faculty.