I have published articles as a first author, coresponding author and as a coauthor. Journals have different copyright policies. How do I send or share any of my published
articles without infringing on any involved party's copyrights.
Dear Brendan Anthony Hilliard In my reply here https://www.researchgate.net/post/Sharing_your_closed-access_article_with_the_people_who_ask_for_it I wrote:
It is completely legal to provide someone a (hard)copy of your paper, even when it is normally subjected to copyright issues. See for example: https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/copyright
“Authors can use their articles, in full or in part, for a wide range of scholarly, non-commercial purposes as outlined below:
•Use by an author in the author’s classroom teaching (including distribution of copies, paper or electronic)
•Distribution of copies (including through e-mail) to known research colleagues for their personal use (but not for Commercial Use)….”
In the old days… it was quite common to send the author a brief letter requesting a hard-copy, nowadays such requests go by e-mail and you get a pdf file (most of the times).
The request feature in RG is just another convenient way to do the same. I am convinced that this is one of the reasons why RG is popular (the presence of hard copies, allowed or not allowed, is another even more important reason).
Best regards.
PS. See also related questions/discussions here on RG:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Ten_years_of_pay-walling_when_can_I_finally_make_my_papers_open_for_all
https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_the_copyright_limitations_for_posting_publications_on_ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/post/To_publish_with_a_non-open_access_option_in_a_hybrid_journal_is_it_literally_free_or_should_we_still_pay_a_less_amount_of_APC_than_the_open_access
I had the same concern at some point. No one can ever grow without trying something, maybe new. In this case, I think it is important to declare any copyright concerns you have. The publishers will always find a mutually beneficial outcome.
To ensure you're not infringing copyright when sharing published articles on ResearchGate, review the copyright policies of the journals where the articles were published. Some journals allow sharing preprints or postprints, while others have restrictions. You can also use ResearchGate's "Request full-text" feature to obtain articles legally.