You automatically hold copyright over any intellectual property that you create. You don't have to even write a little "c" with a circle around it next to your name on the paper, it belongs to you.
What does copyright Protect?
In the US, copyright protects fixed expressions of ideas. The author retains the sole right to do the following with their work:
How long does copyright last?
Copyright licenses last for the remaining lifetime of the creator plus 70 years.
Copyright is the reason articles can be placed behind paywalls. When an author submits an article to a journal, they typically sign their copyright over to the journal, so then the journal owns the article, and can require payment in order for readers to view the article.
There are sometimes loopholes where the author can retain the rights over early drafts of the published article. These are the pre-prints that many universities archive in their institutional repositories.
Copyright Pros |
Copyright Cons |
| the author retains complete control over their work | readers have less ability to reuse the work |
| readers must ask permission to reuse the work | |
| the author must field and answer all requests from readers to reuse their work | |
| copyright often means a paywall, which means less people can read the work |
Read more about US Copyright on this US Copyright Office website.