Academic Legal Writing - Eugene Volokh [147]
If, however, the editors refuse to leave you with unlimited nonexclusive rights to do what you like to the piece, at least try to persuade them to give you the specific rights you need, for instance:
The author conveys to the journal perpetual, unlimited, exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, and display the article, and to authorize others to do the same. The author, however, retains the perpetual, unlimited, nonexclusive rights to do the following (so long as the author clearly states in each copy or presentation that the article was originally published in the journal):
1. post the article on the Internet and allow others to do the same;
2. make and distribute photocopies of reprints;
3. distribute copies of the article by e-mail.
4. create new articles and other works that are based on the original article;
5. allow others to make copies of the article, or of parts of the article, for classroom use, republication in a book, use in Continuing Legal Education programs, or other purposes;
6. make presentations that are based on the article and that reuse the article's expression, and to produce audiovisual materials related to those talks.
In my experience, some journals only ask for nonexclusive rights in the first place; others ask for exclusive rights, but, if you object, send you an alternate contract that gives them nonexclusive rights; and most others let you change their standard contract to one of the forms that I give above. Only two journals ultimately insisted on denying me the unlimited nonexclusive rights that I wanted, and they eventually agreed to leave me most of the specific nonexclusive rights that I asked for.
You might also want to add the following to your author's footnote, to encourage people to copy the article as broadly as possible:
The author hereby licenses all readers to make unlimited photocopies of the article. For permission to make other copies, please e-mail the author at [if possible, give an e-mail address that you expect will work for at least several years].
This will make it easier for people to make photocopies, while still giving you the chance to check any copying that might involve heavier editing and might thus accidentally quote your article out of context.
E. Publicizing the Article Before It's Published
1. Post the article on SSRN
As soon as your article is accepted by a journal, electronically submit the article and the abstract to the Social Science Research Network, http://www.ssrn.com (just click on the “Submit” button). This way, the article will be publicized even before it's published, and academics will be able to immediately read it, cite it, and possibly even give you valuable advice about it. If you haven't yet written the abstract, write it now; Part XXIII.C (p. 276) gives you some tips on that.
Don't wait until your article is published, which could be many months away. If you think your draft needs one more editing pass before you're willing to have people read it, do that extra edit, but don't let it delay you too much: The earlier you promote your ideas, the more influence they'll have, and the more they'll help build your reputation.
You might even want to submit the article before it's accepted by a journal—many scholars do, and label the piece a “Working Paper”—but I generally wouldn't recommend it: The article's acceptance by a journal will serve as a signal that encourages people to read it, even if they don't know the author and even if they know the author is still a student.
2. E-mail bloggers in your field
Find law professors and lawyers who write blogs on subjects to which the article relates—the list at http://www.lawprofessorblogs.com is a good place to start, but don't stop there—and e-mail those bloggers a brief message
a. mentioning that you've written a new article and saying where it will be published,
b. very briefly and clearly summarizing your claim (for instance, by including in the e-mail text an abstract,