Author Rights and Copyright in Biomedical Publishing
When you publish in a journal, something happens to your copyright, and most researchers don't read the fine print closely enough to know exactly what. The answer depends entirely on which journal you publish in, whether you pay an APC, and what license agreement you sign at acceptance.
This guide explains what copyright transfer and exclusive licensing mean in practice, what you can still do with your work after signing either, and how open-access licenses differ from traditional arrangements.
Three Arrangements You'll Encounter
Copyright transfer
You sign over copyright to the publisher. They own the paper. You retain limited rights: typically the right to share a preprint, use the work in teaching, post to an institutional repository after an embargo, and include it in your thesis. JAMA, NEJM, AAAS, and some Elsevier journals use this model.
Exclusive license to publish
You keep copyright but grant the publisher an exclusive license to publish and distribute the work. The practical effect is similar to copyright transfer: the publisher controls distribution. Springer Nature journals (Nature, Nature Medicine) and most Cell Press journals use this model.
Creative Commons license (open access)
You keep copyright and publish under a CC license: usually CC BY 4.0, which lets anyone use, share, and adapt the work as long as they credit you. PLOS, eLife, BioMed Central, Nature Communications, Frontiers, and most fully OA journals use this.
What You Can Still Do After Copyright Transfer
Even after transferring copyright to a publisher, most author agreements retain a set of standard author rights. These are usually in the agreement itself, but authors rarely read them. Here's what's typically retained:
Post a preprint
You can post a preprint version (the submitted manuscript, before peer review) on bioRxiv, medRxiv, or your personal website. This is separate from the published version and was created before copyright transfer.
Use in teaching and presentations
You can use your own figures, tables, and text in lectures, conference presentations, and educational materials without requesting permission from the publisher.
Post the accepted manuscript to an institutional repository
Most publishers allow posting of the accepted manuscript (post-peer-review, pre-copyediting version) to your institutional repository, typically after a 6–12 month embargo.
Include in your thesis or dissertation
You can include the published paper in your PhD thesis or dissertation. Most agreements explicitly allow this.
Share with colleagues directly
You can email a copy to colleagues who request it for their own research. This personal use right is standard in most publisher agreements.
Deposit in PubMed Central (NIH-funded work)
If your research was NIH-funded, you're required to deposit the accepted manuscript in PMC within 12 months of publication: publishers can't override this under the NIH public access policy.
Creative Commons Licenses Explained
Anyone can use, share, remix, and build on the work, including commercially, as long as they credit you. The most permissive and most common OA license. Used by PLOS, eLife, Nature Communications, BioMed Central, Frontiers.
Funder note: Required by NIH (for OA compliance), Wellcome Trust, UKRI, Gates Foundation
Use, share, and remix allowed for non-commercial purposes only. Commercial reuse requires separate permission. Some journals offer this as an alternative to CC BY.
Funder note: Not acceptable for Wellcome, UKRI, or Gates Foundation mandates, which require CC BY. NIH public access (PMC deposit) does not specify a license and is compatible with CC BY-NC.
Can be shared with attribution but can't be modified or built upon. Rarely used in biomedical research because it limits reuse in meta-analyses and systematic reviews.
Funder note: Not acceptable for most funder OA mandates
The most restrictive CC license: share only, no modification, no commercial use. Occasionally offered by hybrid journals for lower APC tiers.
Funder note: Not acceptable for NIH, Wellcome, UKRI, or Gates mandates
Author Rights by Journal (56 Journals)
The pattern is consistent: subscription journals require copyright transfer or exclusive license; fully OA journals let you keep copyright under CC BY. Hybrid journals (which offer both options) use CC BY when the APC is paid, and transfer/exclusive license when it isn't. For any journal not listed here, use SHERPA/RoMEO , the authoritative database for publisher copyright policies.
| Journal | Model |
|---|---|
| NEJM | Copyright transfer |
| Lancet | Exclusive license |
| JAMA | Copyright transfer |
| The BMJ | Copyright transfer |
| Nature | Copyright transfer |
| Science | Copyright transfer |
| Cell | Copyright transfer |
| Nature Medicine | Copyright transfer |
| PNAS | Copyright transfer |
| Nature Communications | OA / author retains |
| eLife | OA / author retains |
| PLOS ONE | OA / author retains |
| Scientific Reports | OA / author retains |
| BMC Medicine | OA / author retains |
| Genome Biology | OA / author retains |
| PLOS Medicine | OA / author retains |
| BMJ Open | OA / author retains |
| Frontiers in Immunology | OA / author retains |
| Science Advances | OA / author retains |
| Journal of Clinical Investigation | Copyright transfer |
| Circulation | Copyright transfer |
| Cancer Cell | Copyright transfer |
| Immunity | Copyright transfer |
| Neuron | Copyright transfer |
| Cell Metabolism | Copyright transfer |
| Cell Host & Microbe | Copyright transfer |
| Cell Stem Cell | Copyright transfer |
| Molecular Cell | Copyright transfer |
| Developmental Cell | Copyright transfer |
| Current Biology | Copyright transfer |
| Cell Reports | OA / author retains |
| Nature Neuroscience | Copyright transfer |
| Nature Genetics | Copyright transfer |
| Nature Methods | Copyright transfer |
| Nature Biotechnology | Copyright transfer |
| Nature Immunology | Copyright transfer |
| Nature Structural & Molecular Biology | Copyright transfer |
| Nature Chemical Biology | Copyright transfer |
| Molecular Psychiatry | Copyright transfer |
| JAMA Oncology | Copyright transfer |
| JAMA Cardiology | Copyright transfer |
| Lancet Oncology | Exclusive license |
| Lancet Neurology | Exclusive license |
| Lancet Infectious Diseases | Exclusive license |
| European Heart Journal | Copyright transfer |
| JACC | Copyright transfer |
| Circulation Research | Copyright transfer |
| Brain | Copyright transfer |
| Journal of Neuroscience | Copyright transfer |
| GUT | Copyright transfer |
| Gastroenterology | Copyright transfer |
| Hepatology | Copyright transfer |
| Blood | Copyright transfer |
| Nucleic Acids Research | OA / author retains |
| Science Translational Medicine | Copyright transfer |
| The EMBO Journal | Copyright transfer |
For authoritative, up-to-date self-archiving policies, use SHERPA/RoMEO , the authoritative database for publisher copyright and self-archiving policies.
The SPARC Author Addendum
If you're publishing in a subscription journal and want to retain more rights than the standard agreement provides, the SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) Author Addendum is a legal instrument you can attach to a publisher's copyright agreement.
The addendum modifies the standard agreement to let you retain the right to use the work in future publications, post the final published version to your institutional repository, and preserve your rights if the publisher is acquired or the journal ceases publication.
Publishers aren't required to accept the addendum, but many do. Your institution's scholarly communication librarian can advise on whether to use it and how to negotiate with a specific publisher.
Suggested Citation
APA
Manusights. (2026). Author rights and copyright in biomedical publishing. Retrieved from https://manusights.com/resources/author-rights-guide
MLA
Manusights. "Author Rights and Copyright in Biomedical Publishing." Manusights, 2026, manusights.com/resources/author-rights-guide.
VANCOUVER
Manusights. Author rights and copyright in biomedical publishing [Internet]. 2026. Available from: https://manusights.com/resources/author-rights-guide
CC BY 4.0 - share and adapt freely with attribution to Manusights (manusights.com/resources).
References
- SHERPA/RoMEO. (2026). Publisher copyright policies and self-archiving database. Jisc. Retrieved February 2026. [sherpa.ac.uk/romeo ↗]
- SPARC. (2006). Author Rights: Using the SPARC Author Addendum to secure your rights as the author of a journal article. Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition. [sparcopen.org ↗]
- Creative Commons. (2013). About the Licenses. Retrieved February 2026. [creativecommons.org ↗]
- National Institutes of Health. (2023). NIH Public Access Policy. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [publicaccess.nih.gov ↗]
- Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2017). COPE Discussion Document: Ownership of articles. Retrieved February 2026. [publicationethics.org ↗]
- Suber, P. (2012). Open Access. MIT Press. (Open access edition available.) [mitpress.mit.edu ↗]
Frequently Asked Questions
What rights do I keep after signing a copyright transfer agreement?
Even after a full copyright transfer, most publishers grant authors retained rights by default: use in teaching and lectures, inclusion in a thesis or dissertation, posting the accepted manuscript (not the final PDF) on a personal or institutional website after any embargo period, and sharing with colleagues for personal use. Subscription journals typically require a 6-12 month embargo before self-archiving the accepted manuscript. Open access journals licensed under CC BY retain all rights with the author and allow immediate reuse by anyone.
Can I post my published paper on my lab website or ResearchGate?
It depends on the journal and which version you want to post. For most subscription journals, you can post the accepted manuscript (the peer-reviewed version before publisher formatting) on your personal or institutional website after the embargo period (usually 6-12 months). Posting the final publisher PDF is typically not allowed without an open access license. ResearchGate and Academia.edu exist in a gray zone: many publishers tolerate it but it is technically a violation for subscription content without permission. For open access papers with CC BY licenses, any version can be posted anywhere immediately.
What is a SPARC Author Addendum and should I use it?
The SPARC Author Addendum is a legal document you attach to a publisher's copyright transfer agreement to retain specific rights - typically the right to self-archive the accepted manuscript immediately (no embargo), use the work in future research and teaching, and grant others non-commercial reuse rights. Not all publishers accept it, but many will negotiate. It's most useful when publishing in subscription journals where default retained rights are narrow. For NIH-funded research, the 2025 Public Access Policy mandates immediate public access, which effectively supersedes the need for an addendum at compliant journals.
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