As part of our mission to create tools that empower authors to manage their copyrights on their terms, CC has been working to update its Scholar’s Copyright Project, first launched in June 2006, including the Scholar’s Copyright Addendum Engine (“SCAE”). This tool has provided a simple mechanism for scholars to retain copyright over their published material that otherwise would be transferred to the publisher. We think it can do much more and be even more impactful. Read more here about our design principles and how you can contribute.

Creative Commons is relaunching and updating the SCAE, and is improving the addendum in two principal respects:

• The text of the addendum, for comprehensiveness and practical developments in the publication arena including funding and university open access policies, and to align more closely with the needs of institutions who have created custom author addenda or author publication agreements.
• The mechanical and technical means of submitting an addendum. When first launched, SCAE contemplated the primary means for submitting manuscripts and an associated addendum as analog — creating a PDF, printing, signing, stapling, and sending the publication agreement physically, not digitally, to the publisher. Our updated tool will account for the digital submission process, most likely through either the embedding of the addendum as a page within the manuscript, or possibly through the inclusion of a link that refers to a standard addendum that the author wishes incorporated into the publication agreement.

Looking Forward: How to Participate

Through 2018, Creative Commons is accepting comments on its new form of Author Addendum. Please contact us at info@creativecommons.org if you want more information about how to help with this important effort.

This project has been generously funded by Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.