Library Directors from the GW4 Alliance universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter, have joined together to reflect on the initial outcomes of the GW4 joint Rights Retention Statement, just under 18-months after its publication.
The collective Rights Retention Statement, first published in November 2023 as part of GW4 Open Research Week, advocated for greater measures to support researchers to retain the rights to their work.
Rights Retention is intended to provide academics with greater control over the rights in their own scholarly works, enabling them to disseminate research and scholarship as widely as possible, supporting compliance with funder mandates, whilst also allowing them to publish their works in a journal of their own choice.
It does this by providing routes to open access publishing which are inclusive and contribute to a positive research culture; strengthening sector positions in negotiations with scholarly publishers; mitigating the risks of non-compliance with the terms of grant agreements; and minimising bureaucracy for authors.
The new reflective piece, summarises several observations since the creation and introduction of the statement. These include:
- Different Stages - Our universities are at different stages in embedding Rights Retention, but collaboration has been invaluable in sharing strategies and experiences. Stakeholder engagement has been key, linking Rights Retention to open access strategies and Research Culture agendas, with potential benefits for REF PCE requirements.
- Partnership – Close collaboration with HR, Legal teams, and Trade Unions has been essential in advocating Rights Retention as a positive move for researchers. External bodies like Jisc play a crucial role in securing fairer copyright terms and promoting a sustainable publishing model.
- Advocacy – Advocacy ensures researchers understand Rights Retention and its benefits, particularly in providing a fairer alternative to gold open access. Support resources, direct publisher engagement, and inclusion in researcher inductions help embed awareness across all career stages.
- Supporting Open Science – Rights Retention supports open science principles by increasing transparency and reproducibility, making research more accessible and trustworthy.
- Mutual Support – Collaboration within GW4 has fostered ongoing mutual support in embedding Rights Retention and refining our approaches.
You can read the reflection in full, here.
James Anthony-Edwards, Chair of the GW4 Library Directors Group, and University Librarian at the University of Exeter, said: “Collaborating with our GW4 colleagues on rights retention is essential to the Alliance and plays a crucial role in fostering an open research culture. We believe this initiative benefits the entire academic community by enabling greater accessibility, collaboration, and impact. Since introducing the joint GW4 Rights Retention Statement, we have made steady progress, and we are committed to building on this momentum to further support researchers in sharing their work openly and effectively.”
Dr Sabrina Fairchild, GW4 Talent and Skills Manager, said: “Just under 18-months after its introduction, we’re delighted to see the initial impact of the joint GW4 Rights Retention Statement. As members of the UK Reproducibility Network, the GW4 Alliance fully supports the rights of researchers to retain control of their work, which enables them achieving even greater research impact by making it more accessible and transparent. We look forward to seeing what impact the statement continues to have over the coming months and years.”
