New EIFL Guide

Non-profit organisation Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) launched a new guide on rights retention and secondary publishing rights to raise awareness, support researchers and authors in EIFL partner countries and improve the achievement of open access to research.

The new guide was jointly produced by the EIFL programmes on Open Access and Copyright and Libraries, and displays the key issues, how researchers can benefit, and how libraries can support their researchers in the process.

Rights retention and secondary publishing rights are two ways to address the issue in support of open access and open science. The issue in question is that traditional publishing agreements often restrict the immediate sharing and reuse of research work in open access because they typically involve the transfer or assignment of copyright from the author (or their institution) to the publisher. The guide sets out the principles and benefits of rights retention and secondary publishing rights, explains how to achieve those, and includes a list of useful resources.