To whom do academic articles belong? Moral rights and ownership rights to scientific work

Abstract

Can an article previously published in a journal or newspaper be gathered together with others by the author as an anthology or collection? Can the author perform this action without consulting the publisher, who is the assignee of the economic rights of the work, which include the reproduction, public communication or disposal rights, and without receiving their authorization? Can the author retain the rights to the previous version or drafts of the article, or does the license also imply that the copyright holder has the exclusive rights to successive versions of the work? Does the place in which the publisher has its operation center, or the country of the platform to which the author posts the collection of his or her works, have any influence on the applicable jurisdiction to solve the legal problems that may arise? All those questions are posed briefly in this paper, along with a modest proposal to adjust the different interests of the parties.