Sample Wording for Retention of Shoprights for Tufts Use of Publications

Most commonly, when researchers at Tufts submit articles for publication by a journal, the authors assign all of their copyright to the journal. Thereafter, copying of the article--even by the author--is an illegal infringement of the journal's copyright in the article, except under very restricted circumstances.

Although single copies may be legally made for occasional use, copying for wider-spread use (such as distribution in class coursepacks) is not allowed except with permission of the journal, and usually involving a fee. Similarly, posting of the article electronically, even on networks restricted to Tufts, is not allowed--and some journals are getting stricter about enforcing this prohibition.

These restrictions can pose significant hardships in Tufts's educational endeavors, and add to our costs. We are therefore suggesting (though not requiring), that Tufts.authors add the following proviso to the forms assigning copyrights to publishers:

"Rights are reserved for use of the copyright by Tufts University for its own educational and research purposes."

If you want to reserve shoprights for Tufts and run into difficulty with your publisher, please contact the office of Technology and Industry Collaboration at 617-626-6657 and one of their staff members will try to help.