Letters of agreement are common occurrences when ironing out negotiations between you and a journal that wants to publish your article. It’s often better for someone who’s not in the law department to right the letter of understanding. Simply because the law department will put all the legalese in it most of the time, because that’s their job—to protect their organization. It’s better for you to memorialize what you think the agreement is and send it to them, and if they agree with it, great! If they say, “Well, that’s not exactly our understanding,” that’s always better than being in the middle of a business transaction of any sort and finding that you did not have effective communication and meeting of the minds up front.

All other things being equal, even though it takes a little bit of time, it’s worth the writer’s while. It’s worth your effort to do a letter of understanding. Most publishers don’t do anything more formal than a letter of understanding.

For more tips on letters of understanding, or agreement letters, check out Legal Issues You Must Know When Writing Articles For Fee or For Free.