What copyright option should I choose when publishing an article?
Answer
At LANL, authors own copyright for their works. If you are the author, or one of several authors, of the work in question you would specify the Contributor-owned work option.
LANL Procedure P635, Writing for Outside Publication, provides specific guidance on the topic of peer reviewed journal publications. P635 states, in relevant part (emphasis added):
3.3.1 Copyright and Retained US Government Rights
Laboratory employees are typically permitted to retain the copyrights in books, professional papers, and other scholarly written works that they produce in the course of their employment. Accordingly, employees may enter into contracts with commercial publishers for the publication of such works, subject to the following requirement.