Author Rights: Using the SPARC Author Addendum to secure your rights as the author of a journal article (SPARC)

"KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AS THE AUTHOR

* The author is the copyright holder.
As the author of a work you are the copyright holder unless and until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement.

* Assigning your rights matters.
Normally, the copyright holder possesses the exclusive rights of reproduction,
distribution, public performance, public display, and modification of the
original work. An author who has transferred copyright without retaining these
rights must ask permission unless the use is one of the statutory exemptions in
copyright law."
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What is SPARC? http://www.arl.org/sparc/about/index.html

"SPARC ®, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, is an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct imbalances in the scholarly publishing system. Developed by the Association of Research Libraries, SPARC has become a catalyst for change. Its pragmatic focus is to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication models that expand the dissemination of scholarly research and reduce financial pressures on libraries. Action by SPARC in collaboration with stakeholders – including authors, publishers, and libraries – builds on the unprecedented opportunities created by the networked digital environment to advance the conduct of scholarship. Leading academic organizations have endorsed SPARC."