These frequently asked questions (FAQ) will be updated as further questions are received during the run up to the Research Publications Policy launch.
You are welcome to contact Libraries and Learning Resources for further support applying the rights retention approach to your own research. Email openaccesspublications@contacts.bham.ac.uk.
Is there any risk to the policy?
At the date of writing, 30 UK Universities, a high proportion of which are research intensive, have introduced a rights retention policy. The first was Edinburgh at the beginning of 2022. Almost two years later there have been no legal challenges from publishers. The University has sought independent legal advice in drafting the revised Code of Practice for Research and the new Research Publications Policy. In the absence of a legal challenge, there is no case law to rely on, however, the University believes the legal basis to be sound.
While we do not believe there are grounds for a publisher to demand the takedown of the author-accepted manuscript of an article/chapter/monograph published under prior notice of rights retention, publishers are within their rights to refuse to publish articles where such prior notice has been made. The experience of other institutions tells us this is extremely rare for journal articles and conference papers. There is much less evidence regarding how long form publishers will handle rights retention. We encourage and support authors to negotiate with publishers to enable open access. However, the Research Publications Policy is currently based on an opt-in approach for long-form outputs. This means authors can continue to work with their publisher of choice, so long as it does not prevent compliance with a prevailing funder policy.
We encourage any author that encounters rejection on the grounds of rights retention to inform Libraries and Learning Resources so we can provide advice, keep other authors updated, and consider such behaviour in future negotiations with those publishers.
Don’t I already own copyright in my research publications?
Under UK copyright law, employers own the intellectual property in material produced by employees. To implement rights retention, the Code of Practice for Research has been updated to transfer the ownership from the University to the authors in a defined subset of research outputs (Scholarly Works) in return for the author(s) granting a non-exclusive licence back to the University to allow it to use those works in its day-to-day business. This includes making the author-accepted manuscript or equivalent post-review manuscript of specific outputs (Research Publications) open access via Pure.
Before revision of the Code, the ownership position was not clear from a legal perspective. The changes, considered with expert legal advice, attempt to replicate the previous drafting in a legally sound way to provide legal certainty surrounding the correct ownership of Scholarly Works.
What research outputs will this impact?
The Research Publications Policy addresses rights retention for a subset of Scholarly Works, formally referred to as Research Publications:
- journal articles
- conference papers
- monographs
- book chapters
- edited collections formally published with an ISBN for an academic audience
- formal reports which communicate research outcomes authored or co-authored by a Researcher
In developing our approach to rights retention, the Code of Practice for research has been revised to provide clarity around the ownership of intellectual property in a wide range of research outputs. It defines a set of Scholarly Works where copyright explicitly resides with the author in return for a non-exclusive licence granted to the University permitting reuse of those outputs.
Is this only for authors with UKRI funding?
No, it applies to all staff with sole or partial responsibility for creating Research Publications.
What do I have to do differently if I’m publishing a journal article?
- Ensure all articles include a data access statement.
- Continue to ensure Research Publications are recorded in Pure.
- Make sure your author accepted manuscript is uploaded as soon as you receive it.
See our information on the rights retention process, which highlights what authors need to do. It includes what to do if a publisher rejects a paper on the grounds of rights retention, potential exceptions and how to apply them.
What do I have to do differently if I’m publishing a long-form output?
Please see our information on the process that should now be followed. If you choose to opt-in to the rights retention approach to meet a funder obligation, or because you would like your output to be open access, you’ll need to include a rights retention statement when making proposals / submissions for long-form outputs.
Irrespective of open access, long-form authors must ensure a record is created in Pure, including an uploaded post-review manuscript.
What if I have co-authors who are not at the University of Birmingham?
The policy applies to any paper with a University of Birmingham-employed author, including those with co-authors from outside the University, or papers co-authored with students. You should discuss the requirements of our policy with co-authors prior to submission.
Experience from institutions that have already implemented rights retention suggests this is rarely an issue for external authors. However, should it be a problem, please get in touch with Libraries and Learning Resources at openaccesspublications@contacts.bham.ac.uk and we can advise on the best course of action.
Do postgraduate research students have to abide by the Research Publications Policy?
Unless there is some prior agreement in place, postgraduate research students (PGRs) own their research publications. If a PGR student is the only internal author on a research publication, then they do not need to abide by the Research Publications Policy (RPP). However, should they wish to opt-in to the policy to ensure funder compliance, or simply to ensure their output is open access, they should contact Libraries and Learning Resources before submission and we can advise.
PGR research outputs that are co-authored with a member of University staff do fall within the remit of the RPP which applies to all research outputs with a staff author.
Is rights retention about saving money?
Rights retention is about authors and institutions exercising greater control over the outputs that are generated during the research process, ensuring that they can be accessed, read and used to the public good.
Further, there is a growing international concern that the focus on pay to publish models, arguably driven by funder decisions to offer up additional funds to pay for open access (OA) publishing, are creating new barriers to scholarship in the Global South. While more content can be read without a subscription, it is important our approach to OA doesn’t lock authors who cannot afford to pay to publish out of disseminating their research.
Indirectly, widespread use of rights retention can help us to ensure that publisher pricing remains fair. At the present time, we have little choice but to continue to subscribe to transitional agreements irrespective of annual above inflation price increases. Cancelling such deals will curtail author choice. A widespread alternative to meeting funder OA mandates via self-deposit OA gives us more leverage to negotiate better agreements for the University.
Normalising the concept that authors should retain intellectual property rights in their research outputs and the practice of self-archiving outputs for immediate OA, helps support and promote a more sustainable and equitable OA future.
If papers are always available in repositories, will we cancel journal subscriptions?
That is not the intention of introducing rights retention. At the University of Birmingham we are fortunate to be able to afford subscriptions to the key journals and books that support our teaching and research endeavour. We understand that there is often a preference for reading the version of record rather than an author accepted manuscript and have no intention of using the widespread availability of open author accepted manuscripts as an excuse to cancel subscriptions.
However, worldwide there are many who cannot afford to pay for access to the scholarly record. Rights retention ensures those who cannot afford subscriptions, have equal access to the outputs of publicly funded research. By taking a rights retention approach, we also ensure the practice becomes more commonplace and provides an alternative means of achieving the benefits of open access without having to pay exorbitant article processing charges.