The University recognises and confirms that, subject to third party agreements, its rights of ownership of copyright in scholastic works (as defined in the Intellectual Property Policy for employees and students) are waived. The University confirms this current practice and policy which means that copyright is owned by the authors of the scholastic works and that they have the right to publish scholarly articles in the venue of their choice. A revision of the Research Publication and Open Access policy with the inclusion of Rights Retention will make it easier for authors to legally share their work in the repository of their choice, UDORA recommended, and to comply with funder and future Research Assessment requirements.
This Policy is effective from 1 October 2024 and does not apply to any in scope output published prior to this date and is not required retrospectively.
Starting from 1 October 2024, authors must include a Rights Retention statement in their manuscripts when submitting to publishers. This statement will notify the publisher of the author's intention to share any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) resulting from the submission under a CC BY license, by depositing it in UDORA upon publication. Upon acceptance for publication, the University of Derby asserts a perpetual, royalty-free, worldwide, in all formats (now known or yet to be devised), sub-licensable, non-exclusive license by to make the AAM of the scholarly article publicly and openly available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (or a more restrictive license by exception, CC-BY-NC for example).
Please see further information on making alternative licensing arrangements below or in the 'Is there an opt-out option? If so how do I use it?' section of this Guide.
In practical terms, the license is granted automatically. What authors need to ensure is that a copy of their AAM is submitted to UDORA, the University’s Open Access repository as soon as possible from the date of acceptance for publication and no later than the first online date of publication. The Publication Practice Librarian will ensure that this is reviewed and attached to an appropriate record. For further support please contact UDORA@derby.ac.uk
For further information see the following sections of this Guide
a. Retaining your rights, the benefits
b. What do I need to do to retain my rights?
We are aware that some publishers are questioning Rights Retention policies and practices and there is ongoing dialogue in the sector. However, we have written to those publishers most frequently used by University of Derby authors to announce that we are implementing Rights Retention. So far, we’ve received no negative responses. Our intent is that, if we receive a negative response, we will work with the publisher in question so that UoD authors will not be prejudiced against when submitting their work. Similarly, we are asking all authors to get in touch with the Library (rightsretention@derby.ac.uk) immediately if you run into any issues when including the Rights Retention statement, so that this can be investigated further. This also means the library will have a complete picture of all issues that arise, so that they can intervene appropriately and proactively to avoid them in the future.
Further information about the publishers we have contacted can be found in the Notifying Publishers section of this Guide.
No. The policy is intended to support author choice of publisher, so that authors may take the Green route to achieve Open Access – by uploading their Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) into an online Open Access repository (UDORA recommended). If the publisher of your choice is not included on the list of those which the University has contacted in advance to notify them of the policy, then the inclusion of the Rights Retention statement in your submission to the publisher ensures that your choice of publisher is not affected.
For further details please see the 'Is there an opt-out option? If so how do I use it?' section of this Guide.
If the article or conference proceeding was submitted for publication before 1 October 2024, then you need to check any publishing agreement to see which rights were transferred to the publisher and seek copyright permission from the publisher accordingly. If the article or conference proceedings were submitted for publication after 1 October 2024, under the University of Derby’s Rights Retention position, the Author Approved Manuscript (AAM) version can be included in your thesis but it needs to be noted that it is included under a CC-BY licence with a link to the licence deed which can be found here.
Will Rights Retention have an impact on publishing in the journal of my choice?
Many Higher Education Institutions across the sector have implemented Rights Retention policies. We do not believe that publishers can plausibly decline to publish papers from authors from all these institutions, without impacting negatively on their publications. We are aware that some publishers are questioning these policies and there is ongoing dialogue. If you choose to publish with one of the small group of publishers who may remain resistant to this policy, you may need to make alternative licensing arrangements, opt-out, or seek an alternative publishing venue.
For further details please see the 'Is there an opt-out option? If so how do I use it?' section of this Guide.
The University of Edinburgh has helpfully provided a translation of a RRS statement in the following languages: Spanish, French, Greek, German, Polish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Chinese, Italian, and Welsh. You can access it here.
Will there be sanctions if I don’t ensure compliance?
If you are in receipt of funding from an organisation which mandates immediate Open Access, then they may choose to enact sanctions if authors do not comply with their Open Access policies. An example of this would be withholding future grants. In extreme cases, funding may be withdrawn from researchers.
At the University, it is an expectation of employment that staff and students comply with University policy and procedures. For those researchers who have significant responsibility for research and take part in research assessment exercises such as the REF, if an author’s papers were consistently not being made eligible for REF submission by fulfilling Research England’s Open Access current and any future requirements this could undermine the REF submission and the University’s reputation.
The University recognises that there may be situations where it is difficult to follow this Policy exactly. In such cases it will be permissible for researchers to make alternative arrangements by applying a more restrictive Creative Commons license such as CC-BY-NC-ND. If for any reason you wish to opt out of utilising Rights Retention, please follow the procedure as detailed under the ‘Can I opt out’ section of these FAQs and 'Is there an opt-out option? If so how do I use it?' section of this Guide.
Do I have to include the statement when I submit to a fully Open Access journal?
You should include the statement in all submissions to journals and conference proceedings. The purpose of the statement is to inform the publisher and journal editors of the license applied to the accepted manuscript which you have already given to the University. All publishers should be made aware of this. Adding the statement to all your submissions ensures that your publisher will always be aware of the prior license given to the University when they make a decision based on your submission.
Additionally, when publishing in an Open Access journal, we are asking you to:
a. always choose a CC BY license if available.
b. always deposit the accepted manuscript into UDORA on acceptance.
For further information see the following sections of this Guide
a. Retaining your rights, the benefits
b. What do I need to do to retain my rights?
It is established practice that the Corresponding Author on a publication consults with all contributors and then speaks on behalf of the group when engaging with the editors of a chosen journal, to secure acceptance for the publication of their article and signing the publisher’s Copyright Transfer Agreement (CTA). The Corresponding Author at Derby takes responsibility for making the publisher and their co-authors at other institutions aware of Derby’s position with regards to Rights Retention. It's logical to take this simple approach especially in larger collaborations where it makes perfect sense to achieve agreement via the corresponding author rather than contacting all co-authors separately.
From the experience at those institutions who have already implemented a Rights Retention policy, for example Sheffield Hallam University and Edinburgh University, it appears that co-authors/ contributors will usually agree. As more universities adopt a Rights Retention policy, co-authors from those institutions will understand the reasoning behind the statement. For a full list of institutions with Rights Retention policies, follow this link.
The Library provides an email template you can use to inform your co-authors.
For further information please see the section of this Guide 'Information for co-authors based at other institutions' which explains what you want from them and why.
To ensure the successful evocation of Rights Retention, it is important that the publisher has been given notice that the author has designated a prior license to the University of Derby. This is achieved by including a Rights Retention Statement at the point of submission. The university has also notified the publishers most frequently used by University of Derby authors before the policy came into effect on 1 October 2024.
If you omit to include a Rights Retention Statement but you choose to publish with a publisher that we have notified, then the publisher has been given notice that a prior license exists, and you can act as if you had included the Rights Retention Statement, making the AAM immediately Open Access via UDORA.
If you are unsure about any of the above, ask the Library Research and Publication Practice team.
The University has sent a letter to those scholarly publishers where we know Derby’s authors publish most frequently. Letters can be sent, on request, to other publishers who have not already been included. Please contact the Library Research and Publication Practice team should you wish to add a publisher to this list.
For further information about which publishers have been contacted please see the 'Information for Publishers' section of this Guide'
Rights Retention does not currently apply to long-form research outputs. However, it is strongly encouraged that all publications are made Open Access.
It is unlikely that the availability of the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) will affect the agreement that you have as an author with the ALCS. The agreement only grants the ALCS to collect royalties on your behalf for book sales and doesn't give ALCS any copyright over the work, just the authority to collect fees for sales of the published version of the work. As the ALCS agreement is only for sales of the final published work, then it is unlikely that retaining your rights over the AAM will affect what is registered as the final published work will still be registered with the ALCS.
As you have retained the rights to the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of your output, you are free to reuse and share the AAM. As you have granted a licence to the University to make the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) openly and publicly available, the output will remain on UDORA in perpetuity unless the terms of our take-down notice apply.
As you have retained the rights to the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) of your output, you are free to reuse and share the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM). As you have granted a licence to the University to make the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) openly and publicly available, the output will remain on UDORA in perpetuity unless the terms of our take-down notice apply. Please note that if you have applied a CC-BY-NC licence to your work, this means that it cannot be used for commercial purposes.
This Policy only applies to outputs as a result of research carried out at the University of Derby where you are stating your affiliation as University of Derby. For further information please see the section of this Guide 'Information for co-authors based at other institutions'
In most cases, ensuring compliance with the Rights Retention requirements of the Publication and Open Access Policy (POAP) will be straightforward. However, under extenuating circumstances it will be possible for staff to voluntarily opt out of the requirement for immediate Open Access to the AAM under a CC-BY license. However, please be aware:
Scenarios where an opt out may be appropriate:
For further information about opting out please see the 'Is there an opt-out option? If so how do I use it?' section of this Guide.
If you wish to opt out of this Policy, please contact rightsretention@derby.ac.uk
Please see the Encountering Publisher Push-back section of this guide for more information about what to do if a publisher asks you to sign an agreement or rejects an article because of Rights Retention or contact rightsretention@derby.ac.uk
The Policy was written by the Library Research and Publication Practice Team and the Head of Research Governance in consultation with the Innovation and Research Office, the Publication and Bibliometrics Working Group and other stakeholders, together with the University Innovation and Research Committee (UIRC) and University Professorial Council (UPC). It was approved by UIRC, and by Academic Board in January 2024.
For further information please see the 'Policy development, timeline and consultation section of this Guide.
The Research and Publication Practice Team in the Library supports researchers at the University with all aspects of scholarly communications including disseminating and preserving their scholarly outputs, and the transition to Open Research including Open Access publishing.
For guidance and advice on any aspects of this policy and Open Research practices, please contact rightsretention@derby.ac.uk.