In biomedical publishing, copyright protects everything from your outline and first rough draft to the final published article. No special action is needed to secure copyright. Until a manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors are the copyright holders. After a manuscript is accepted, most authors will be asked to sign a license that transfers copyright ownership to the publisher.

Consider Your Funding when Signing a Copyright Agreement

When MD Anderson authors are submitting a manuscript for possible publication, they should let the publisher know if their manuscript was funded in whole or in part by the NIH. This will prompt the publisher to either submit the article to PubMed Central on behalf of the author, or allow authors to submit a version of their manuscript after publication. Learn more about the NIH Public Access Policy.

Policies

• Intellectual Property Policy (MD Anderson Institutional Policy #ADM0345)
• MD Anderson's Interest in Author-Owned Copyrighted Works Policy (MD Anderson Institutional Policy #ADM1040)