ALLEA Calls for EU-Wide Harmonisation of Secondary Publication Rights for Scholarly Research
In a recent statement, ALLEA expresses its strong support for Secondary Publication Rights (SPRs), a legal mechanism that allows researchers to freely share publicly funded scholarly articles via institutional or other non-profit repositories.
As a longtime advocate for equitable Open Access (OA) publishing, ALLEA welcomes the introduction of SPRs in several European countries and calls for EU-wide harmonisation to standardise these rights and improve their effectiveness. Said Professor P. Bernt Hugenholtz, principal author of the statement, “Secondary publication rights are powerful rights in the hands of the scientific community. They allow us to freely share our publications online on non-profit sites and archives without the excessive costs associated with Gold Open Access publishing. Now that several EU countries have introduced these rights in their national laws, it is important to harmonise them at the EU-level so the rules are the same across Europe.”
SPRs as Key Enablers of Green Open Access
First introduced in Germany in 2014, SPRs now exist in six EU countries, allowing those researchers to disseminate publicly funded work for non-commercial purposes, often following an embargo period. Researchers in countries with SPRs have found them to be a vital tool in openly sharing their research findings as they avoid the often-hefty costs associated with Gold OA models.
The majority of EU countries have however not adopted SPRs, and their effectiveness is further limited by inconsistent rules across Europe. For example, while some countries allow only the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to be shared, others permit the sharing of the Version of Record (VoR). Embargo periods also vary widely, ranging from zero to twelve months. These differences continue to create legal uncertainty and pose an additional barrier for international collaborations.
“Secondary publication rights are powerful rights in the hands of the scientific community. They allow us to freely share our publications online on non-profit sites and archives without the excessive costs associated with Gold Open Access publishing.”
P. Bernt Hugenholtz, Principal Author and Professor of Law, Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam
Features of a Harmonised SPR across Europe
ALLEA, therefore, calls for the European Commission to implement harmonised legislation that would enable SPRs to be uniformly applied across all 27 Member States. The statement, prepared by the ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights (PWGIPR), outlines several factors that should be defined in an effective, harmonised EU-wide SPR for research:
- Subject Matter: The SPR should apply to all published scientific articles, studies, dissertations, reports, and conference proceedings resulting from publicly funded research. This would include works from researchers at state-funded institutions and those receiving at least 50% public funding.
- Embargo Period: ALLEA advocates for zero embargo periods for preprints and AAMs, allowing them to be shared immediately. However, for VoR publications, a short embargo (up to three months) could be justified to allow publishers time to recover their investment.
- Authorised Use: Researchers should be able to share their work via non-profit repositories, institutional websites, personal websites, and social media platforms. The SPR should apply regardless of any contractual obligations with publishers or copyright transfers.
- Binding Nature: The SPR must be enforceable, even when publishers are based outside the EU or when contracts are governed by non-EU laws.
As the Chair of PWGIPR, Professor Alain Strowel, explains, “Non-harmonised rules on SPRs are preventing the emergence of a common European Research Area that would allow publications to be made accessible at the same time throughout Europe despite varying contractual practices. Now more than ever, it is essential to champion the creation of a single, borderless market for research, innovation, and technology across the EU.”
“Non-harmonised rules on SPRs are preventing the emergence of a common European Research Area … Now more than ever, it is essential to champion the creation of a single, borderless market for research, innovation, and technology across the EU.”
Alain Strowel, Chair of PWGIPR and Professor of Law, UCLouvain and the University Saint-Louis, Brussels
This statement was published at the start of International Open Access Week 2024, which continues “the call to put ‘Community over Commercialisation’ and prioritise approaches to open scholarship that serve the best interests of the public and the academic community.”