ALLEA Calls for EU-Wide Harmonisation of Secondary Publication Rights for Scholarly Research

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, whereas 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.

Features of a harmonised SPR across Europe

ALLEA, therefore, calls for the European Commission to implement harmonised legislation that would apply SPRs uniformly across all 27 Member States. The statement, prepared by the ALLEA Permanent Working Group on IPR, outlines several characteristics that should be defined in a 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 Author Accepted Manuscripts, allowing them to be shared immediately. However, for Version of Record publications, a short embargo (up to three months) could be justified to allow publishers time to recover their investment in journal publication.
• Authorised Use: Researchers should be able to share their work via non-profit repositories, institutional websites, personal webpages, 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.