Maximising access to scholarly information is a key element in the Zwolle Principles. 'Open Access' is a recent development which could bring this goal closer. Under this work package a study was commissioned to examine the consequences of Open Access for the Zwolle Principles in general and for the different stakeholder groups. The study examined different copyright approaches and possible copyright models for use with Open Access journals and then surveyed Open Access authors to assess views on copyright in order to recommend a way forward for best practice.

The study was carried out by Maurits van der Graaf (Pleiade Management and Consultancy) and Esther Hoorn (University of Groningen).

The report Towards good practices of copyright in Open Access Journals is the first output of the ‘JISC-SURF partnering on copyright’ project.

The report examines aspects of copyright in the Netherlands and United Kingdom with regard to ‘Open Access’, i.e. the free availability of scientific information over the Internet.

The report finds that the main issue in copyright regarding research articles concerns the rights to reuse articles. Furthermore it identifies and explores four copyright models of good practice of copyright in Open Access journals, including what the report identifies as the ideal copyright situation according to most respondents: that the author keeps all rights to reuse of the article for educational, scholarly or commercial purposes.

From interviews with authors it appears that many Open Access authors are involved in traditional journal publishing, as referees or as members of editorial boards. Most authors, the report finds, want to keep copyright and to handle permission requests to reuse the article themselves.

The report suggests that awareness of copyright should be raised through models and standard licences. In addition, it recommends that members of editorial boards should be an important target group for advocacy of copyright issues and other awareness-raising activities.

Keywords

copyright · literature review · OER best practices · OER research · survey