Questions and Answers

Publishers often use their own, standard agreements that they offer to the author for signature. These standard agreements differ from one publisher to another. This does not mean that adaptations are not possible, and it is always worthwhile to negotiate.

In most cases, the publisher will ask you to transfer your copyright or to grant an extensive or exclusive license to your work.

In general, as the author, it is best to be aware of the following points before signing the agreement:

• You should retain the right to have your publication, or in any event the author manuscript, included in the institutional EUR Repository. The author manuscript (also referred to as the post-print, accepted author version, or accepted manuscript) is the version you submit to the publisher after it has been reviewed and commented upon.
• Retain the right to reuse an article or book chapter for education or research. This prevents a situation where, having signed the publisher agreement, you are no longer able to use the work you have created for lecturing or research.
• If you are planning to rewrite the work, retain the right to rewrite or adapt the work.
• If the work is a scientific article, retain the right to distribute the article among your colleagues.

Open Access

Since Open Access is increasingly becoming an obligation from research fund providers and universities, it is important to take this into account in publishing agreements: 

• The term Diamond Open Access is used when the publisher makes a work freely available (online) immediately after publication without asking for financial compensation.  
• The term Gold Open Access is used when the publisher's version of a work is made freely (online) available immediately after publication. However, a publisher often requires a (high) financial compensation for this, which is sometimes covered under a publishing deal between publisher and the university. 
• Inclusion in an institutional repository is considered Green Open Access. Take the stipulation that the work may be made available in a repository after 6 months (articles) or a fair time (books).

Before signing a publishing agreement, undertake the following steps: 

• Does the publisher require payment for making the work Open Access? 
• If payment is required, is there a publishing deal between the publisher and the university? 
• If there is no publishing deal, can the work be made available in the repository after 6 months or a similar fair period. 

For legal advice on assessing the agreement with the publisher etc, contact the Copyright Information Point (CIP).