The publisher of my article is asking me to sign a License to Publish or Copyright Transfer agreement. Am I allowed to sign this myself?
Answer
Yes, you may sign these agreements yourself. LANL Procedure P635, Writing for Outside Publication, allows employees to enter into contracts with commercial publishers for the publication of such works.
Additionally, each publication contract must include a clause that adequately acknowledges the rights of the US Government to the work. The following clause should be used:
“The submitted manuscript has been authored by an employee or employees of Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS) under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Accordingly, the U.S. Government retains an irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free license to publish, translate, reproduce, use, or dispose of the published form of the work and to authorize others to do the same for U.S. Government purposes.”
A clause substantially equivalent to the one above is acceptable as well. Additional information can be found on the library’s Copyright web page.