Public Domain and Paywalled: Copyright Statements on Journal Articles by U.S. Government Employees

Works by United States government employees are generally in the public domain within the U.S. This presentation will discuss an ongoing study of the copyright designations on journal articles authored or co-authored by U.S. government employees. The study specifically looks at journal articles published in 2019 from authors affiliated with the National Cancer Institute or the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Using a random sample from articles meeting this criteria from the Web of Science journal index, the authors are discovering myriad and often inconsistent ways in which publishers express the copyright of these articles. The presentation will surface trends in the copyright labeling of these articles with regard to accuracy, variety of copyright designation, and disciplinary differences. The presentation will also discuss implications for librarians, readers, and authors with specific regard toward open sharing and repurposing of these works that should be in the U.S. public domain.