The idea of having work copyrighted isn’t confined to scientific manuscripts. Any author or writer creating an original work should have the copyright to legally protect their document from being used without consent and appropriate attribution.

A copyright isn’t permanent, but it will stand the test of the author’s life. The duration lasts up to 100 years after the writer passes. However, it’s limited by jurisdiction, usually country-dependent, and just because your material has a copyright doesn’t mean it can’t be used. Some international agreements offer global protection, but if someone has the appropriate license to use the work, it can still become available for their application without express consent. One of the most common types of this license is under open license, a free, public ability for the copyright holder to give users access to their work for certain purposes.

Types of Creative Commons Licensing

In the academic world, it’s often a requirement of the publishing journal that open licenses are in effect. These give other researchers permission to use the work contained in the article, while still identifying the copyright holder. The benefits are multi-fold. First, the journal is shared more widely, and the author’s work is cited for its scholastic impact. This also encourages open access publishing practices. Other researchers are able to obtain the material they need to continue their work without fear of retribution for breaking copyright laws.

Creative Commons is one of the most common types of public copyright licensure. This nonprofit organization has been established for over two decades, with the sole purpose of sharing academic work. The copyright holder is given the right to define the conditions in which their work can be used, as well as decide what type of use is allowed.

Under Creative Commons, you as the author can receive credit by attribution with a CC-BY license and link to said license. The CC-SA license follows the same terms but lets the users modify the work and share it. The next type is the CC-BY-NC license, which takes these two licenses and lets you modify the work and use it for anything but commercial gain. Finally, the CC-BY-ND encompasses those three licenses but says the user can’t modify the work at all without permission.

These copyright permissions are essential to your research paper because they enable your work to be shared without fear of losing attribution. The more guided permissions you give, the greater your work’s academic impact can become.

Attributions Vs. Citations

Licensing is one method of ensuring copyright. This usually occurs automatically when the work is published in a journal. The publishers have control of the copyright permissions and can charge fees for the works to be used by others. With open access, these fees are waived. Publishers with open access licenses “encourage the reuse and distribution of content.” This practice enhances scientific research in every field.

Giving attribution via a license versus citations is not the same thing. Attribution comes with access to a license, while citations are practices used in subject areas to prevent plagiarism. Citations become vital when they’re part of the scholarly reputation and impact factor, as judged through scores such as the JRG, Eigenfactor, and H5-index.

Using Impactio to Find Suitable Journals to Publish Your Copyrighted Work

When you want to retain control of the copyright permissions of your work, you must be cognizant of where that work is published. With so many predatory publishers looking for unassuming researchers to prey on, this is more important than ever.

But when you turn to Impactio to find reputable, suitable journals, you get the peace of mind of knowing that you are in control. Look for journals that are members of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) and must abide by those copyright requirements. Impactio can help you narrow down your search with the platform’s journal finding tools.

Search through your research field to find the most impactful publications, cross-reference the journals in which they’ve been published, and check out the copyright requirements for those journals. Using this process, you’ll know which sources are legitimate and which you should stay away from. With opportunities like these that come with an Impactio membership, it’s no wonder Impactio is the number one scientific networking tool in America.