Q: Can I copyright my research results and then send the work for publication to a journal?

Answer:

You have a couple of questions, but these also seem to derive from some underlying concern, that of protecting your results. So, let’s address all these points one by one.

Can you copyright your research results?

Solely the results of your research, that is, the data, can not really be copyrighted. This is because the data exists in isolation. Without, for instance, the context of the problem you are trying to address, your research question, and your methods, the data alone does not make much or complete sense. The purpose of data is to validate or invalidate a proposal, and without knowing what that proposal is, the data doesn’t really add up to anything, doesn’t have much value.

A complete paper can be said to have a copyright, that is, be the copyright of the author/s. The copyright may be transferred when seeking to have the paper published with a journal, and we shall discuss this next.

Can you send copyrighted results (a copyrighted paper) for publication to a journal?

To start where we left off with the previous question, the copyright exists in principle with the author/s of the manuscript. The copyright is transferred to the journal at the time of publication if it is a subscription-based (paywalled) journal. In case of an open access (OA) journal, the copyright can remain with the author/s depending on the type of license agreement you have signed with the journal. In case of a transfer, a copyright transfer form needs to be submitted to the journal. So, to answer your question, when you submit your paper to a journal, it is understood to be your copyright, and if the journal decides to publish your paper, depending on the type of journal it is, it may ask you to transfer your copyright to them through an agreement.

Possible concerns – and addressing them

Based on your questions, it seems you are pondering over some or all of the following points.

• Your research, and therefore, the results, may be in a potentially pathbreaking area or around something extremely innovative, and you could be concerned about the idea getting stolen. If this is the case, you may consider first getting the idea patented and then submitting the paper for publication. Patenting is the best way to protect your idea if it indeed is around something truly unique.
• You may have come to know of a service or option for copyrighting research results, either on your own or by them approaching you. If so, this is most likely the work of a bogus or predatory publisher, in other words, a scam. Many such journals abound, seeking to take advantage of knowledge gaps among researchers. You may use this checklist to identify whether this service provider is indeed predatory or legitimate: 10 Point checklist to identify predatory publishers
• While your research may not be ‘extremely innovative,’ it may still be quite novel, as all research is meant to be, and you perhaps wish to safeguard your research from getting scooped (someone else submitting or publishing a similar study or paper before you). If so, one way of establishing the primacy or novelty of your research is to upload it to a preprints repository for your field before submitting to the journal, though nowadays many journals themselves offer options for doing so. However, you should note that, if you are submitting to a quality journal, you shouldn’t have reason for worry on this front, as these journals by and large handle manuscripts with confidentiality. For this, again, the previous journal quality checklist should be helpful.

For more information on the various points discussed here, you may find it useful going through the following resources:

• Navigating copyright when you publish a manuscript in a journal
• What's the difference between a license agreement and a copyright transfer agreement?
• Patents 101: What are patents and how do you acquire them?
• The role of preprints in research dissemination

Hope that helps. All the best for proceeding in the best way toward publication!