The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) included some very progressive language providing for authors to retain their copyright. While this ALPSP / Learned Publishing License to Publish is dated 2000, this language could still be a role model for publishers!
Excerpt:
Copyright remains yours, and we will acknowledge this is the copyright line which appears on your article. However, you authorise us to act on your behalf to defend your copyright if anyone should infringe it, and to retain half of any damages awarded, after deducting our costs. You also retain the right to use your own article (provided you acknowledge the published original in standard bibliographic citation form) in the following ways, as long as you do not sell it in ways which would conflict directly with our commercial business interests. You are free to use your article for the internal educational or other purposes of your own institution or company; mounted on your own or your institution's website; posted to free public servers of preprints and/or articles in your subject area; or in whole or int part, as the basis for your own further publications or spoken presentations.
From: License to Publish Learned Publishing, Volume 13, Number 2, 1 April 2000 , pp. 74-74(1). (Free content).
This post is part of the series of resources and tips for publishers.
