TCNJ Scholars (Digital Repository): Copyright Guidelines

Your rights as an author may be limited as regards electronic distribution of published materials such as journal articles. TCNJ Scholars can host only versions that are allowed within publisher copyright policy. When Library staff receive digital content or content information (e.g., publication lists, citations) for TCNJ Scholars, they will check for publisher copyright policies before depositing materials into TCNJ Scholars. Contributors may be contacted for a more appropriate version to upload to TCNJ Scholars when necessary. When no legal full text version is available for adding to TCNJ Scholars, Library staff will create metadata-only entries. 

The following are the most typical versions of a published article. You may or may not have the right to post all versions in TCNJ Scholars:

• Published version ("version of record"): A copy of the article or other publication as it has been published in print or electronic format
• Accepted manuscript ("postprint"): Author's final version, i.e., final manuscripts that have been accepted for publication by journal editors. The content is essentially the same as the published version (but before the publisher’s formatting and copy-editing). As such, this should not be confused with page proofs that authors receive from publishers for pre-publication copy editing.
• Author's original version ("preprint"): Any version of a journal article or other publication submitted for formal review and consideration. Includes earlier drafts.

See the NISO recommendation and SHERPA/RoMEO web site for a summary of self-archiving categories.

TCNJ Library can assist with checking publisher copyright for published materials. Any other questions concerning the validity and authenticity of the content of your material (including but not limited to images, music, data sets, or other accompanying material that is not original work created by the author) cannot be checked by Library staff. If we receive evidence of copyright infringement or any other legal violations, the relevant item will be removed immediately.