Peer Review and Manuscript Management in Scientific Journals by 
How to Write, Publish, and Present in the Health Sciences by The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends determination of the authorship using criteria:
Scientific research and scholarly communication are governed by principles of scientific integrity and shared values in scientific research. The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) oversees and directs Public Health Service (PHS) research integrity activities on behalf of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, with the exception of the regulatory research integrity activities of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Below are educational resources from ORI on human subject research, research misconduct, conflict of interests and commitment, and teaching responsible conduct of research in humans.
Memorandum for Public Access to the Results of Department of Defense-Funded Research states on an increased access to unclassified and peer-reviewed scholarly publications of federally-funded research to enhance science and economy. "DoD Public Access Policy applies to any published, peer-reviewed scholarly publication and digital scientific data us publicly releasable and arises from any direct funding from DoD funding that is consistent with applicable law, policy, agency mission, and resource constrains." Peer-reviewed journal manuscripts are submitted to Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) upon acceptance for publication.
Public Access to the Results of Department of Defense-Funded Research.
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy memorandum, "Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research," February 22, 2013.
A "work of the United States Government," referred to in this document as a U.S. Government work, is a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties. (See 17 USC § 101, Definitions.56)
An officer's or employee's official duties are the duties assigned to the individual as a result of employment. Generally, official duties would be described in a position description and include other incidental duties. Official duties do not include work done at a government officer's or employee's own volition, even if the subject matter is government work, so long as the work was not required as part of the individual's official duty. (S.REP. NO. 473, 94th Cong., 2d Sess. 56-57) (1976) "A government official or employee should not be prevented from securing copyright in a work written at his own volition and outside his duties, even though the subject matter involves his government work or his professional field.")
2.1.1 What is copyright?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (Title 17 of the United States Code (17 USC - Copyrights)21) to the authors of original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. (See also Title 37 Code of Federal Regulations (37 CFR, Chapter II)22, which implements this statute.) Copyright protection arises automatically once an original work of authorship is fixed in a tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed; e.g., written, filmed, recorded. It does not require that a copyright notice be placed on the work, that the work be published, or that the work be deposited or registered with the Copyright Office or any other body.
2.4.1 Does the Copyright Law apply to materials on the Internet?
Yes, the Internet is another form of publishing or disseminating information; therefore, copyright applies to Web sites, e-mail messages, Web-based music, etc. Simply because the Internet provides easy access to the information does not mean that the information is in the public domain or is available without limitations. Copyrighted works found on the Internet should be treated the same as copyrighted works found in other media.
3.1.2 Is a U.S. Government work provided copyright protection?
In the United States, U.S. Government works are covered by 17 USC § 105.59 "Copyright protection … is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise." Exceptions are available for certain works of the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Postal Service. Copyright protection may be available for U.S. Government works outside the United States (see FAQ Section 3.1.6). When a copyrighted work is transferred to the U.S. Government, the Government becomes the copyright owner and the work retains its copyright protection.
4.1 If a Work Was Created Under a Government Contract, Who Holds the Copyright?
Unlike works of the U.S. Government, works produced by contractors under government contracts are protected under U.S. Copyright Law. (See Schnapper v. Foley, 667 F.2d 102 (D.C. Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 948 (1982).) The ownership of the copyright depends on the terms of the contract. Contract terms and conditions vary between civilian agencies or NASA and the military.
The Department of Defense (DoD) is guided by the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Subpart 227.71 81and Part 21182 and Part 25283 provisions that affect the ownership of copyright for works created under contract. DFARS Subpart 227.72 84 provides the copyright guidance for DoD (FAR 27.40085). The DFARS recognizes that the contractor owns the copyright for works created under contract (DFARS 227.7103-986, DFARS 252.227-7013-4)87. If a special clause is inserted into a contract (DFARS 252.227-702088), the contractor must assign the copyright to the Government."
Excerpt from CENDI
Copyright law protects intellectual property. Permission is required for using images, article content (graphs, figures, charts, and other) for book, journal, presentation, non-digital and digital medium, and online media. The copyright owner has no duty or obligation to license or provide permission to the requestor seeking permission.
Selected resources on intellectual property, copyright, permission, consent
“…'open access' to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited." Budapest Open Access Initiative, 2002
OA work require the copyright holder consent to: "copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship...." Bethesda, June 2003 and Berlin, October 2003
Darnall Medical Library offers a scientific writing consultations to WRNMMC researchers in scientific writing and publishing. Scientific writing consultation is offered for post-graduate trainees on scientific writing, copyright and intellectual property rights, journal selection, research integrity, Open Access publication, and ethics of publication.
To request help with scientific writing including OA publication and detecting of OA predatory journals, schedule scientific writing consultation.
To encourage the free dissemination of research which is often stifled by high journal subscription costs, the scientific and library communities often encourage researchers to publish in Open Access (OA) journals. OA resources are peer-reviewed scholarly resources that are free to access and are freely reproducible with proper acknowledge and citation.
“Predatory journals and publishers are entities that prioritize self-interest at the expense of scholarship and are characterized by false or misleading information, deviation from best editorial and publication practices, a lack of transparency, and/or the use of aggressive and indiscriminate solicitation practices.”
Grudniewicz, A., Moher, D., Cobey, K. D., Bryson, G. L., Cukier, S., Allen, K., ... & Lalu, M. M. (2019). Predatory journals: no definition, no defence. Nature, 576 (12), 210-212
Open access publication is encouraged by funding agencies and government. The federal government has implemented wide initiatives to foster access to federally-funded for the general advancement of science. DoD Instruction 3200.12 requires all results, regardless of outcome, of DoD R&E and studies efforts sponsored in whole or in part by the DoD, are documented and sent to the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). This includes any combination of journal articles, technical reports, technical papers, or other types of scientific and technical data.
Publication in Open Access journals increases the visibility and research impact of published research, freely provides an access to published research for readers, increases the sharing of the research, and research impact tracking. However, there are disadvantages of publishing in OA journals, which are the varying degree of peer-review process causing low quality research publication, data sharing jeopardize the research of junior researchers, and publication fee.
Open Access publication is an open and free access to peer-reviewed literature on Internet, “permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself. The only constraint on reproduction and distribution, and the only role for copyright in this domain, should be to give authors control over the integrity of their work and the right to be properly acknowledged and cited.” The Budapest Open Access Initiative.
Predatory journals are increasing as well as the deception of publication in OA. Research published in predatory journals compromises the research when publishers exploit OA publication for a profit. McCannan and Polacsek (2017) summarize key points and guide for researchers to avoid the predatory OA publishers and journals.
McCann, T., & Polacsek, M. (2018). False gold: safely navigating open access publishing to avoid predatory publishers and journals. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74(4), 809-817.
Copyright law protects intellectual property. Permission is required for using images, article content (graphs, figures, charts, and other) for book, journal, presentation, non-digital and digital medium, and online media. The copyright owner has no duty or obligation to license or provide permission to the requestor seeking permission.
Selected resources on intellectual property, copyright, permission, consent
Consultations on article publication and data communication are provided to scientists. The search and background analysis of journal are conducted to identify 10 journals taking to attention the scientists criteria for selecting the journal. Journal analysis report include information on journal scope, IF, journal reviewing and publication timeline, authors guidelines and standards, and scientist's criteria.
To request a consultation on article publication, please, submit a consultation request Scientific Writing.
To request consultation on data communication, please, contact Systematic Review Coordinator, Dr. Tmanova.
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