Interesting reading on author rights by Timothy Armstrong. An excerpt follows:
There are good reasons to retain your copyright rather than assigning it to the publisher. Why might you prefer this?
• They don’t need it. Publishers can do all the things they might legitimately want to do with your work (publish it, put it on their [...]

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Authors are encouraged to anticipate their future use of the work and retain any or all of the rights they may need to achieve their academic and professional goals. Authors may want to retain rights to do the following:

Make copies of the work for educational use, including class notes, study guides or electronic reserves
Use part [...]

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PloS recently initiated a program to provide metrics for individual articles published in all PLoS journals. This program focuses on the impact of the article itself instead of the journal and includes metrics for assessing the impact of the article by using indicators such as cited-by citations, social bookmarks, blog coverage, to name a few.
“. . [...]

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Are you an author? Do you know what you are agreeing to when you sign a publication agreement form? To learn more about your rights as a an author,  read:  An Introduction to Publication Agreements for Authors by Timothy K. Armstrong. 
Many publishers allow authors to retain a number of rights to their work. Some examples [...]

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How can authors enhance the impact and visibility of their work?

One way is to use the same variation of your name consistently throughout your academic career. If your name is a common name, add a middle name to distinguish yourself from other authors. Standardize your output to maximize your impact.
Retain rights to your work in [...]

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Are you an author and wish to retain certain rights to your journal article that are not expressly granted by the publisher? One right you may want to retain is to post the peer-reviewed version of your journal article on your laboratory website. Another right is to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.
There is a customized [...]

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The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act (HR6845) was recently introduced. The bill includes a proposal to prohibit federal agencies from requiring a transfer of copyright for a work generated by federal funds.
Related Readings:
Alliance for Taxpayer Access
ARL/ALA/SPARC Memo
Copyright Alliance
Hearing on the Fair Copyright Research Act, held on 11 September 2008 (video)
Library Journal Academic Newswire
Professional [...]

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Interesting and thought provoking publication by Edward Lee on user-generated content/Web 2.0 tools and implications for copyright. As noted in the abstract:
“The most significant copyright development of the twenty first century has not arisen through any law enacted by Congress or opinion rendered by the Supreme Court. Instead, it has come from the unorganized, informal practices of [...]

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The World Intellectual Property Organization recently issued a guide titled “Understanding Copyright and Related Rights.” The guide is intended to “provide an introduction for non-specialists or newcomers to the subject of copyright and related rights.”

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NIH is holding a public meeting (agenda) on 20 March in order to seek public comments regarding implementation of the revised NIH Public Access Policy.
 Request for Comments: The purpose of the Thursday, March 20, 2008 meeting is to seek comment from the public on implementation of the NIH Public Access Policy. The meeting is open to [...]

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