Rights Retention

Library and Learning Services have contacted all publishers listed on the institutional repository (RaY) to pre-notify publishers of the policy. Researchers should check the list to see if the publisher is present. If the publisher is not listed contact ray@yorksj.ac.uk as all publishers need to be pre-notified of the Rights Retention Policy.

If an author chooses to not assert Rights Retention, an opt-out form will need to be completed prior to submission. See the opt-out section for more information.

When submitting a research output to a publication with an ISSN, the following text should be used, and should be placed in the acknowledgement section of a submission and any accompanying letter:

"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 from this submission."

The text can be adapted with the same outcome if a particular statement is required by a funder.

Upon acceptance of a publication, the AAM version should be deposited onto RaY immediately. Library and Learning Services will then make the work Open Access on publication under a CC BY licence.

Traditionally the research community has transferred author copyright on publication, meaning that research outputs are under control of academic publishers. Rights Retention was introduced in universities as a way of researchers retaining their rights. If authors retain their rights, they can share and reuse their work in the most freely available way.

Rights Retention aligns with York St John's commitment to ensuring the widest possible access to research and the University's support of Open Access principles. It allows authors to disseminate their work globally, Open Access on an immediate basis and avoids barriers such as paywalls. It also gives authors freedom to publish AAMs in other forms after the Version of Record has been published.

The Rights Retention Policy applies to all York St John researchers (staff or postgraduate researchers) who produce and submit research outputs to publications with an ISSN. This includes York St John researchers who are either the lead author or co-author. All researchers are required to use their York St John email address in all correspondence.

Authors who assert Rights Retention on their work retain rights to share and build on their work without restrictions of the publisher.  
 
Rights Retention benefits authors who publish using the Green OA route. Traditionally authors using Green OA routes have been subject to publisher set embargos on their AAM. The AAM is made OA on a later date. Rights Retention avoids embargos allowing the AAM version to be made Open Access immediately. This allows authors opportunities to reach larger audiences and collaborate.

The Rights Retention policy includes all outputs submitted to publications with an ISSN. This includes journals and some conference proceedings. The Rights Retention policy does not apply retrospectively to articles or additional publications with an ISSN before the launch of the Rights Retention policy.

The CC BY (Attribution) licence is one of the 6 Creative Commons licences. These are Open licences which allow work to be accessible openly and allow the author to control their rights and give public permission for their work to be used. All Creative Commons licences require the creator to be attributed each time the work is used.
 
The CC BY enables users of a work to share, adapt and build on a work for all purposes and aligns with York St John's commitment to Open Access principles. In addition, it ensures compliance with external funders as most research funding bodies require this licence.

Gold journals are Fully Open Access with immediate publication.

Authors should include a Rights Retention statement in all submitted publications with an ISSN. It makes publishers aware of the prior licence and York St John's position in Rights Retention. It is also best practice and ensures consistency in Open Access workflows.

For Rights Retention to work, publishers must have prior notice of York St John's Rights Retention position. Many publishers, including publishers in the Read and Publish deals, have been pre-notified by Library and Learning Services. If an AAM is deposited onto RaY without a Rights Retention Statement, and the publisher has been pre-notified, it will be assumed that Rights Retention has been asserted, unless a waiver form has been completed and reviewed by Library and Learning Services.

If an AAM is deposited onto RaY without a Rights Retention statement and the publisher has not been pre-notified Rights Retention cannot be asserted. See list of publishers [link tbc].

Opting out of Rights Retention is possible in exceptional circumstances. To opt out, researchers should complete the necessary waiver form prior to submitting the output for publication. Detailed and clear reasons for opting out should be stated. The form is sent to Library and Learning Services for review. It is important for researchers to know that opting out means their output may be non-compliant with other funder policies and guidelines.

Rights Retention applies to any York St John researcher as a lead or co-author of an in-scope output. If a UK co-author does not have a Rights Retention policy in place already, the York St John author should make reasonable attempt to ask all UK based co-authors to adopt the same CC BY licence with the same terms under this Rights Retention policy.

However, for co-authors based abroad, there is no expectation for York St John authors to attempt to ask these co-authors to adopt the licence terms as Rights Retention applies to UK based institutions (although some institutions may have similar Rights Retention policies in place).

The Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) is the version of an output before proofs and formats have been added. It is normally in the form of a word document with no publisher branding. The Version of Record (VoR) is the final published output placed on the publisher's platform.

The AAMs retain author copyright while the copyright of a VoR may be under the control of the publisher. For VoRs published using the Gold route to OA (immediate OA) the copyright will also be retained by the author.

Library and Learning Services have contacted all publishers on the Read and Publish list and additional popular publishers used by York St John researchers.

A full list can be found here [link tbc].

If you plan to submit to a publisher not on this list, please contact ray@yorksj.ac.uk before submitting.

York St John advises authors not to upload AAMs with Rights Retention statements to other platforms other than RaY until the VoR has been published. As part of the Rights Retention mechanism, authors assert Rights Retention by granting York St John a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty free, worldwide licence to store and share AAMs in RaY.

York St John advises authors not to upload AAMs with Rights Retention statements to other platforms other than RaY until the VoR has been published.

As part of the Rights Retention mechanism, the author grants York St John a non-exclusive and irrevocable licence to store and share the AAM on RaY. This means that the work remains on the RaY repository if an author moves institution. However, authors can grant additional licences to other institutions to store versions.

While Rights Retention statements allow an AAM to be freely accessed, downloaded and shared elsewhere, institutions may have slightly different policies on retrospective Rights Retention work so you would need to discuss the granting of additional licences with the new institution.