Rights Retention

There is a growing recognition that without retaining some of the rights to share and use academic publications, the progress of open access is slowed and research inhibited.

The traditional practice in academic publishing is for authors to transfer their copyright, or grant an exclusive licence, to the publisher in exchange for publishing the article in a journal. This transfer of rights often extends to the Accepted Manuscript, not just the published version of record.

This enables publishers to control how the content can be used and by whom: authors could be restricted from using their own work as they see fit, for example in course packs, or uploading to sites like ResearchGate, or as part of an open access thesis manuscript.

Often publishers impose long embargo periods on accepted manuscripts, typically 6-24 months, and license them so that their use is highly restricted.

Several major research funders have implemented Open Access policies since 2021 that require the retention of rights, most commonly to publish without embargo and with a CC BY licence: these include UKRI, Wellcome, and NIHR.

There have been nearly 30 institutional rights retention policies launched in the UK since the University of Edinburgh in 2022, with more in development.

SGUL’s current Open Access Publications policy encourages rights retention, rather than mandating it, but you may be asked as a co-author to give your permission for rights retention in order for others to meet their institution’s or funder’s policy.

There are several mechanisms for retaining your rights; authors do not need to be bound by an institutional or funder policy to do so.

Author addendum:

It is possible to request an addendum to the Publishing Agreement in order to keep retain copyright, instead granting the publisher a non-exclusive licence to distribute the work.

Statement:

A rights retention statement can be included in the submitted manuscript and cover letter.

The following example is from the UKRI policy:

“For the purpose of open access, the author(s) has applied a Creative Commons attribution (CC BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising.”

Institutional Rights Retention Policies:

Institutional policies can differ in the way they achieve their aims, for example:

A policy may require authors retain their rights by using a statement in their submission and depositing the manuscript in the institution’s open access repository.

An institution could assert ownership of copyright in staff members’ scholarly works, then retain the necessary rights.

A policy could assert that upon acceptance, the author grants the institution a non-exclusive licence to, for example, distribute the Accepted Manuscript under a CC licence and no embargo.

Many institutions give notice to publishers that a prior licence and policy are in place. If an author signs a subsequent agreement with the publisher, the institutional policy may take precedence and the publisher could be seen as procuring a breach of contract if the agreement does not allow rights retention, as they have been made aware that the author is subject to the policy.

Gold Open Access

Whilst not a rights retention method as such, publishing Gold OA, either by paying an APC or via a Read & Publish agreement, typically enables immediate open access under a CC BY license.

The benefits of immediate open access and open use of publications to authors include:

• Freedom to use their work as they see fit without needing permission from the publisher
• Immediate dissemination without restrictions on sharing or use
• Compliance with requirements of funders, institutions, and the REF

Rights retention strategies can facilitate this for authors who do not have access to funding for open access charges or to Read & Publish agreements.

Harvard have been operating a successful rights retention policy since 2008, though it is a more recent development in the UK.

The author might be asked to remove a rights retention statement from the manuscript if publishing via a Read & Publish agreement, as it would not be considered necessary.

Feedback from UK institutions so far has been that there have been few instances of publishers responding negatively to notices of their policy.

Institutional policies often have opt-out mechanisms for authors if necessary, so they can publish where they see fit, but would need to be aware that they may still be in breach of grant conditions if funded.

Given the funder requirements and institutions adopting policies, there will be an increasing number of authors using rights retention methods.

The funder alliance cOAlitions S has produced some resources explaining more about rights retention such as an explainer video, and templates for pre-submission and covering letters which can be found here.

For enquiries about open access, email the open access team.