[Project Name] is a collaborative project, aimed at creating a high-quality open resource for Recovery Hub’s audience of feminist scholars and educators. Recovery Hub for American Women Writers supports projects recovering the work of women writers by providing digital access to forgotten or neglected texts. The pedagogical materials section of our website will further extend the audience for digital texts that fit our mission by providing educators with teaching materials.

This memorandum of understanding (MOU) lays out the contributor expectations, licensing information, and other conditions of participation. All members of the team are asked to read through and agree to the terms. Any questions or concerns can be addressed to Recovery Hub fellows, Alice Martin and Tracy Fernandez Rysavy. 

1. Licensing

All content (writing, images, charts, videos, etc.) created for inclusion on the Recovery Hub website, as well as ancillary materials (slide decks, assignments, in-class exercises, etc.), are to be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License (CC BY- NC 4.0) for non-commercial use only. In accordance, all authors and creators retain the copyright to their contributions, and by signing below, grant a CC-BY-NC 4.0 license to all content created for this project.

2. Edits, updates, and revisions

All contributors understand and accept that the content they produce in the context of this project may be edited, updated, reviewed, and otherwise altered over the course of the publishing process. Authors/creators will have the opportunity to address significant recommended changes or additions following developmental editing and/or peer review, and retain the right to remove their name or materials from the published version at any time. Recovery Hub staff will provide team members with a digital galley prior to submission and for final approval. 

All contributors understand that Recovery Hub staff may be pursuing publication for a collection of pedagogical materials in a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal and/or open-access website. Team members grant permission for materials to be included in these efforts, with proper credit to all authors (see #3 below).

3. Recognition for contributors

All contributors will be named as the authors of any materials published on Recovery Hub’s website and in any other media format, unless they request to be removed. This attribution will include their name and institutional affiliation, and link to a profile or other professional site of their choosing.

4. Termination

The project admin team and all contributors reserve the right to terminate participation in the project at any time if a contributor is:

  • Not fulfilling their agreed upon obligations in a timely manner.
  • Failing to treat other members of the team with respect.
  • Otherwise disrupting or negatively impacting the success of the project and team.

If a team member asks or is asked to leave the project and does not wish to remove their work from the project, any submitted work may be retained and completed/expanded by another contributor in accordance with the conditions of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 license. In this instance, the original creator will still be credited in the final text unless they request to have their name removed.

5. Contributor agreement

I, _________________, agree to the terms of participation stated above. (Digital signature acceptable.)

Signed: ______________________________________ Date: __________________

Adapted from an MOU template by Oklahoma State University in The Rebus Guide to Publishing Open Textbooks (So Far), which is under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).