Implementing a Rights Retention Strategy at the University of Dundee

In May 2023, the University of Dundee issued a Statement on Rights Retention for Authors recommending that all University staff and students apply a Rights Retention Statement to their manuscript when submitting work to a publisher. In doing so we joined a growing number of UK institutions demonstrating their commitment to support authors in retaining their rights to their own work.

Traditional academic publication models have required authors to grant the publishers of their research an exclusive right to publish their work. This transferral of copyright means that authors retain limited or no rights about where, when, and how their research can be shared.  

Open Research and Publishing have been monitoring developments around the cOAlition S’ Rights Retention Strategy and the impact it has had on the sector since PlanS came into effect in 2021. The aim of PlanS is that all scholarly publications resulting from research funded by public or private grants provided by national, regional and international research councils and funding bodies, must be published in Open Access Journals, on Open Access Platforms, or made immediately available through Open Access Repositories without embargo, such as the Discovery Research Portal.

Both Wellcome and UKRI have committed to PlanS, with Wellcome having withdrawn support for funding transitional agreements in January 2024. These agreements, also sometimes referred to as “transformative” or “Read and Publish deals” have been developed to facilitate the move from subscription-based access to fully open access journals.  

Increasing numbers of Universities are now implementing, or piloting the implementation of, Rights Retention Strategies.  

Policy changes

Changes have been made to the Open Research Policy, the Policy to Govern the Publication of Research, and to the Statement on Open Research. Further policy amendments may be required as Rights Retention is adopted more broadly. 

Further information

As our research culture and environment changes and improves to align more closely with the principles and practices of Open Research, so should our approach to publication and the retention of rights, enabling us to share the findings of our research with as wide and diverse an audience as possible. 

Consistent with the University of Dundee’s commitment to Open Research, and our social purpose, existing policy has been reviewed and amended to embed the practice of applying a Rights Retention Statement to manuscripts being submitted for publication.  

When you should apply the Rights Retention Statement

You should apply the Rights Retention Statement at the point of submission. This is to ensure your retention of rights is asserted from the earliest possible time, to the earliest version of the work, and any other versions prior to the one to which the publisher has applied their final typesetting and brand. 

Responsibilities of corresponding authors 

If you are the corresponding author, and you are funded by an organisation that aligns with PlanS, you must comply with the funder requirement to retain your rights. To do this, you should be discussing your obligations with co-authors from as early a stage as possible to ensure they are aware that you will be applying a Rights Retention Statement. 

Co-authors, and what to do if you are not the corresponding author

If you are not the corresponding author, you should still encourage co-authors to consider Rights Retention, however, exceptions can be applied. If you need to apply for an exception because, for example, you cannot get in contact with the corresponding author, you will need to contact Open Research and Publishing, who will review your application and work with you to find a way forwards. 

Finding out if the journal you want to publish in allows authors to retain their rights 

Contact Open Research and Publishing when you are considering which journal(s) to approach. They will be able to give you guidance on whether the journal will allow you to align with the University Rights Retention Strategy. The team would rather you contacted them prior to submission as it is easier to help an author from the start of the process than it is to unpick and fix issues caused by the inappropriate assigning of rights and licenses after the event. 

Using online tools 

Our experience has taught us that the results of online tools can be open to interpretation. Until we are confident that the results are more reliable, it is preferable for Open Research and Publishing to support the academic community by acting as the first point of consultation prior to submission.  

Sending your AAM to be uploaded

You should send your AAM to Open Research and Publishing at the point of acceptance. This part of the process hasn’t changed in that the team will upload the manuscript to Discovery and make it immediately available when the version of record is published.  Authors should contact the team to inform them that their work has been published. 

Other types of outputs 

Currently our strategy for Rights Retention doesn’t apply to all types of outputs, though this may change as the funding and publishing landscape evolves. At the moment the Rights Retention Strategy is focussed only upon research articles and published conference contributions. 

Preferred licence

A Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC-BY) is preferred as it allows for the maximum re-use and attribution. It is also the preferred option for many funders, including UKRI and Wellcome Trust.

When the RRS and CC-BY licence is not allowed by the publisher

Open Research and Publishing will work with you and the publisher to investigate options, and to see if an exception can be made. Exceptions will need to be applied for and will be monitored to ensure that the levels of service support and provision are sufficient. 

Third-party content, such as tables and images

The rights associated with third-party content must be honoured. In the case of content that already has re-use permissions, then the details of these permissions will be displayed as expected. If permissions cannot be obtained or where there is uncertainty about whether content should be shared, an exception may be applied. Authors should contact Open Research and Publishing for advice on how to proceed. 

The Rights Retention Strategy's impact on which journals you publish in

The University Rights Retention Strategy does not aim to impede your ability to publish in the most appropriate journal for your discipline or research. Instead, it is intended to support you with the requirement to comply with funder policy and to facilitate your ability to share and disseminate your work to the widest possible audiences. 

Library publication charges and open access eligibility

Where appropriate, the Library will still pay publication charges for fully open access journals.  Authors can continue to make use of the read and publish agreements the Library has signed when using the rights retention strategy.  A list of the current read and publish agreements can be found on our libguides website.