Submissions to ScholarWorks@UMBC composed solely of links are not governed by copyright law or USM policy.
University System of Maryland (USM), IV-3.20 – POLICY ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY and copyright law apply to submissions that include files. Faculty, researchers, and students own copyright of their scholarly or educational work at UMBC unless such work is subject to other terms as stated in grants, contracts and other agreements, and, therefore, faculty, researchers and students generally retain copyright in their own scholarly and artistic works for purposes of depositing works in ScholarWorks@UMBC unless a Creative Commons license is applied. However, Section V states that the University owns all rights for works produced by non-faculty personnel within the scope of employment, so staff do not retain the copyright for works produced as part of the duties of their non-faculty position. If non-faculty personnel are also students, faculty, or researchers, the role in which they created the work would govern whether they retain the copyright.
Authors who have published their works have probably assigned copyrights to publishers or other third parties. Submission of a link to a full and free version of the work on the publisher’s website is always allowed. Submission of pre-prints (the submitted, not yet peer-reviewed version) is almost always allowed. Many publishers allow other versions as well. For more infromation, see the next page in this LibGuide, visit the Sherpa-Romeo database to check journal and publisher policies, or contact scholarworks-group@umbc.edu for help.
If UMBC is the owner of the copyright of a work, permission to include the work in ScholarWorks@UMBC and to use any Creative Commons license applied should be provided by an authorized representative of the UMBC school or unit in which the work was created when the files are submitted. If a work has been created for a UMBC school or unit by an outside vendor or non-UMBC personnel, the terms of the agreement or contract under which the work was made should be checked to ensure UMBC has rights to reproduce the work in ScholarWorks@UMBC and for any Creative Commons license that you might want to apply.
Each submitter depositing files is responsible for obtaining written permission from the copyright owner(s) to submit the work and for any Creative Commons license applied. Each submitter is responsible for ensuring works do not infringe upon any copyright and that a work does not contain any confidential or proprietary information. Each submitter is responsible for any copyright violation and any other legal claims that may arise from works they have submitted to ScholarWorks@UMBC. Copyright owners (or submitters with permission from the copyright owners to submit work) must agree to the terms of the License Agreement as a condition of the work being considered for inclusion in ScholarWorks@UMBC.
Upon a claim of copyright violation, the library will remove the contested work immediately from public access pending investigation of the claim. The metadata of the work will remain.
Neither UMBC nor the library claim copyright on any deposited work based solely on the submission and inclusion of the work in ScholarWorks@UMBC. The library intends, but does not guarantee, that it will disseminate deposited works over the internet and may authorize reproduction of the works in various formats in order to meet preservation and usability standards.
The License Agreement does not limit the copyright owner’s right to submit the work elsewhere. Works will remain in ScholarWorks@UMBC in perpetuity, unless withdrawn by decision of the Library.
