Copyright and open access in the life sciences: a researcher's guide to sharing and publishing scientific information

Copyright provides the creator of an original work, such as a journal article or a scientific poster, with exclusive rights to authorize and reproduction and sharing copies of the work. Issues regarding copyright have become more prominent as digital technologies have made copying and distributing information easier. In a research environment, there is ample opportunity to share print and electronic resources among colleagues, which may represent noncompliance with copyright law. The desire to remove the paywall from the published literature has led to several versions of open access (OA), differentiated by the fees charged to the author as article processing charges, where the article is stored, and when the published article becomes freely available as OA. A number of government agencies and major research funders in the U.S.A. and the EU have implemented specific guidelines as to where and how their funded research can be published. Although OA publications can be read for free, they are still subject to various license limitations regarding sharing and reuse.