Adopting and managing institutional rights retention policies

Background to the project

Rights retention policies support authors in retaining rights to their own work and to make repository-based OA faster and more frictionless. Implementation of funders’ rights retention policies have prompted many academic institutions, both in the UK and globally, to take strong steps towards supporting their researchers to retain rights by adopting Institutional Rights Retention Policies (IRRPs).

It was clear there was a need to support our members in overcoming the sector pain points which were preventing the development and implementation of IRRPs, especially those in smaller and medium sized institutions.

This project supported and accelerated the implementation of IRRPs within member institutions in line with our commitment to develop forward-looking sector requirements that advance research and to empower communities and encourage conversations.

What we did

• Established a task and finish group which provided effective advice and guidance throughout the project
• Created a dedicated IRRP channel on the digital research community group Teams site to facilitate conversation, create support networks and encourage the sharing of best practice. Please complete the registration form to access the group.
• Gathered a wealth of support material for the community including briefing papers, drafts of letters to publishers, lists of publisher email and postal addresses. These resources are available in the ‘Files’ area of the IRRP channel. To access, from the main digital research community Teams site, use the navigation menu on the left and click on the link to the IRRP sub-channel, then click the ‘Files’ tab.
• Ran a comprehensive programme of engagement for our members to support both the development and implementation of an IRRP, including the ‘Question time’ webinar series and multiple blog posts.
  • IRRP Question Time – watch the recording on YouTube
  • IRRP Question Time 2 – watch the recording on YouTube
  • Five blogs detailing institutional experiences of developing and implementing IRRPs
• Worked with the European Rights Retention Community of Practice to help shape the direction of the community and to connect with peers dedicated to advancing Rights Retention across Europe
• Contributed to sector conversations via RIGHTSRETENTIONTALK JiscMail

What we are doing now

We will continue to work closely with members and stakeholders to develop the IRRP community as part of our support for rights retention and the move to open research.

Please continue to use the community via the digital research community Teams site; we are always happy to add more documents to our resource bank and facilitate further conversations.