Publishers often make distinctions between three primary versions of a manuscript when detailing the archive or deposit rights retained by authors: the pre-print, the post-print and the publishers version.
Pre-print – A pre-print is the original version of the manuscript as it is submitted to a journal. While the authors may have sought help from their colleagues in selecting data analysis techniques, improving manuscript clarity, and correcting grammar, the pre-print has not been through a process of peer review. It typically looks like a term paper – a double spaced .doc file with minimal formatting.
Post-print – A post-print is a document that has been through the peer review process and incorporated reviewers comments. It is the final version of the paper before it is sent off the the journal for publication. It may be missing a final copyedit (if the journal still does that) and won’t be formatted to look like the journal. It still looks like the double spaced .doc file. Sometimes, the term “pre-print” is used interchangeably with “post-print,” but when it comes to permissions issues, it is important to clarify which version of a manuscript is being discussed.
Publishers version/PDF – This is the version of record that is published on the publishers website. It will look quite spiffy, having been professionally typeset by the publisher. Library databases will link to this version of the paper.
Generally speaking, publishers are more likely to be okay with authors posting copies of pre-print versus other manuscript versions. But each journal is different, and authors need to be aware of what they can do. The copyright transfer agreement is the best place to find this information.
An author, or coauthors, automatically have copyright over scholarship they have written and they can keep or assign those rights as they like. Many publishers ask authors to sign over all of their rights to their manuscript in return for being published. Each publisher is different and will allow a variety of archival and sharing options for authors. Authors can propose an addendum before publication that lays out the rights that are being given to the publisher and the rights being retained by the author. The addendum can be accepted or rejected by the publisher.
Many Open Access (OA) publishers let their authors retain their rights. You can check Open Policy Finder (formerly Sherpa) to get more information about OA publication policies.
An addendum is an attachment to a contract or form that modifies, clarifies, or adds to the contract. There are a variety of addenda available for authors to use to retain rights that are not explicitly stated on the publisher copyright agreement form. If authors attach an addendum, add the statement “Subject to Attached Addendum” next to your signature on the publisher copyright agreement form.
In a decision on February 14, 2022, the U.S. Copyright Office stated that "copyright law only protects 'the fruits of intellectual labor' that 'are founded in the creative powers of the [human] mind'.”
As a result, works created by generative AI cannot be copyrighted. They pass immediately into the public domain, which makes them, by definition, OERs. Without copyright ownership, however, an editor of an OER created by generative AI cannot grant permission for it to be reused, revised, etc. through a Creative Commons license as usually happens with OERs.
In addition, lawsuits have recently been filed by the New York Times and others because their copyrighted material has been taken from the internet and used as training data for the LLMs (Languages Learning Models) behind AI tools. This copyrighted material has appeared verbatim in text generated by AI tools. We will need to watch closely as the courts sort out this issue of copyright and generative AI as these decisions will have a direct impact upon OERs.