Intellectual property rights in scholarly works belong to Metro State University employees and students as defined by Minnesota State Board policy 3.26 Intellectual Property. Metro State faculty, staff, and students are considered copyright holders and will retain exclusive rights to their works as defined by Minnesota State Board policy 3.27 Copyrights.
To publish in MetroWorks, creators grant Metro State University a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to copy, display, perform, distribute, publish, and archive their work within copyright law or any applicable license agreement and to make it available worldwide for non-commercial educational purposes. In addition, copyright owners will grant Metro State University the non-exclusive right to migrate their work to various formats as needed in perpetuity for preservation and usability.
Non-exclusive rights do not limit a person's copyright. The copyright owner retains all rights to share and publish their work. Contributors do not transfer copyright to Metro State University.
If your work has multiple contributors, permission must be granted by all parties involved in the creation of the work to become part of MetroWorks.
Yes, most of the time this is possible! Library and Information Services asks that you consider submitting your work to MetoWorks even if the work is published elsewhere. MetroWorks is a permanent record of the intellectual output of the university. Submitting your work to MetroWorks raised both your visibility and the prestige of the institution.
If previously published in an academic journal or elsewhere, you must check the agreement you signed with the publisher. Some publishers include clauses that do not allow the creator to post a copy of their work either before it is published (pre-print) or after (post-print) or in an institutional repository. While some publishers state that you cannot post the publisher's version (a PDF of the final article as published in a journal) in an institutional repository like MetroWorks, they often will allow the "submitted" or "accepted" version to be posted, often with certain conditions. These conditions may include implementing an embargo or providing a link or citation to the published version.
Some questions to consider:
Talk to your publisher to see what rights you have to share your work. In addition to checking on a journal's homepage, you can also look up a journal's open access or self-archiving policy using the Open Policy Finder (previously Sherpa Romeo).
Some publishers require exclusive rights to what they publish. If you plan to submit your work to a journal or book publisher later or if you have already submitted a work to a publisher, determine if the publisher requires exclusivity before submitting a work to MetroWorks. Email library.services@metrostate.edu for assistance in working with publisher agreements or in determining if you can make your work open access.
A journal's open access policy can be found in Open Policy Finder (previously Sherpa Romeo), an online tool that shows users what a journal's policies are. This information can help you determine whether your work can be part of MetroWorks. Metro State librarians can help you determine what is allowed and what isn't. And if a publisher agreement allows for "green" open access, the Library will work with you to ensure all polices are followed and will add any necessary embargoes.
Before submitting a work to a publisher, consider these questions:
Many journals do not have any restrictions on working papers that precede an article, especially if substantial revisions were made. Check your publishing agreement with the journal to confirm that there is no problem with leaving the working paper on the site. MetroWorks constitutes noncommercial use.
If the working paper remains posted, include the citation to the published article on the cover page of the working paper. Contact the repository administrators to request this change.
Creators whose work includes text or media created by others must receive permission to use that content in their work prior to submitting work to MetroWorks. MetroWorks administrators cannot make fair use determination of submitted work; that determination is the responsibility of the creator.
Copyrighted works (such as photographs or other images) included in submitted work should be used under fair use or with the permission of the copyright holder. For assistance determining fair use see Minnesota State's resources related to fair use.
Consider selecting and applying a Creative Commons license to your work to inform users of your wishes regarding the work you submitted.
While retaining your copyright, you can decide what permissions, if any, you will give to users through a Creative Commons license. The copyright holder applies a Creative Commons license to authorize how the work may be used and shared by others while honoring respective agreements, licenses, publisher policies, or public domain status.
Read more about Creative Commons license agreements.