Rights Retention Strategy

Last updated: 12/02/2023

The University of St Andrews, along with many other HEI institutions and research funders, has adopted a ‘rights retention’ approach to support open access. This ensures researchers retain sufficient reuse rights to meet open access requirements. All researchers can now follow this approach, as it is independent of specific funding and is tied to core University policy. This is a balanced and transparent approach to retaining reuse rights.

Rights Retention is a primary support mechanism for the University of St Andrews Open Access policy

Main benefits:

Maintains author choice, and ensures sharing and reuse of manuscripts regardless of venue
maximises benefits for researchers by ensuring liberal sharing and reuse rights for authors and end users
increases the utility of accepted manuscripts for teaching and research
simplifies options and avoids complex 'policy stack'

What should researchers do?

1. On submission: Add a rights retention statement to the 'acknowledgement' section of the manuscript and the cover letter (if applicable):

In order to meet institutional and research funder open access requirements, any accepted manuscript arising shall be open access under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) reuse licence with zero embargo.

WHY? The Rights Retention (RR) statement ensures full transparency for co-authors and the publisher.

Note. For many research funders the RR statement is a requirement for Rights Retention, but for the University of St Andrews Open Access policy it is a strong recommendation only, as rights are retaining by default as part of core University IP policy.

2. On acceptance: Deposit the accepted manuscript in Pure. The Open Access team will ensure a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY) is applied and the manuscript will be released on publication with zero embargo.

WHY? Deposit in Pure is the primary method for achieving open access and a requirement for the University of St Andrews Open Access policy.

What does this apply to?

All articles. Rights retention is broadly designed to support open access to journal and conference articles.
Book and chapters. Where there is a funder mandate for book, chapters, and edited volumes.
Any manuscripts. It is recommended to add the rights retention statement to all manuscript submissions, even if the article will eventually be open access via the publisher.
All researchers. This approach supports the University's preference for immediate 'Green' open access via Pure, therefore ensuring the benefits of open access are shared equitably.

- Open Access rights retention cover letter template (Word)
- Open Access rights retention pre-submission template (Word)
As part of the University of St Andrews Intellectual Property policy, researchers “grant to the University a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free licence” to scholarly materials created in the course of employment. This grant of licence to the University enables benefits for teaching and research, as well as supporting the University’s Open Access requirements. This licence takes priority over downstream publisher agreements between researchers and publishers.

Many publishers have explicitly stated that they will not object to researchers adding the rights retention statement to manuscripts. In addition, many publishers are adopting open access policies that are aligned with current open access requirements – thus extending the benefits to all researchers across the globe regardless of institutional or funder policies.

If you wish to check a journal's default policies, you can use the Journal Checker Tool or SherpaRomeo - this may also give an indication.

If you have any questions regarding rights retention and your chosen publisher, or want to enquire about a publishing agreement, contact openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk for advice and support.

The University will stand behind staff who face legal action, and will accept responsibility and liability for such claims, where staff have properly followed University policy and guidance as set out in funder open access policies.
If a situation arises where the standard rights retention strategy meets resistance or calls for additional efforts, the OA team will advise authors on potential alternatives. The points below are a sequence of options, potential ‘best effort’ solutions and possible outcomes. For advice on specific cases contact openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

As a matter of principle, the University of St Andrews Open Access policy is there to support authors to maximise the benefits of their research, wherever they choose to publish. As part of the transition phase to a default position on Rights Retention, we will work with you and the publisher on alternatives if required.

Alternative options

1. Add rights retentions statement to cover letter and acknowledgement section of paper, and deposit in Pure .

2. If necessary, request amendment to publishing agreement to allow for archiving in an institutional repository with a CC BY Creative Commons licence and zero embargo.

3. If necessary, request separate open access permission from the editors/publisher, to allow for archiving in an institutional repository with a CC BY Creative Commons licence and zero embargo.

Best efforts

If Options 1-3 above fail to reach a satisfactory conclusion, researchers can seek support from the Open Access team, who will agree a best efforts approach which may include:

4. an embargo on the release of the accepted manuscript.

5. a more restrictive licence or complete removal of the Creative Commons licence.

Outcomes

If Options and Best efforts are not successful, the final steps are:

a) submitting and signing a standard publishing agreement, accepting limited open access. This resolution may result in non-compliance with funder policies.

OR

b) requesting further advice from the Open Access team and the Chief Legal Officer.

Infographic (PDF)

Rights Retention Strategy

What should researchers do?

What does this apply to?

Templates

Funders with rights retention strategies

Publisher policies

Rights retention alternative procedure