Direct comparison
Embargo Vs Rights Retention: Key Differences & Comparison | CASRAI
Publisher embargoes and rights retention strategies are the two key mechanisms determining when and how researchers can make their accepted manuscripts freely available under Green open access. This comparison explains how each works, who controls them, and how the cOAlition S Rights Retention Strategy and the UK Scholarly Communications Licence allow authors to bypass embargo restrictions.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | Embargo period | Rights retention |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A publisher-imposed delay between publication and the point at which the author's accepted manuscript may be deposited openly in a repository | A prior licence asserted by the author, funder, or institution over the accepted manuscript, enabling immediate open sharing regardless of the publisher's terms |
| Who sets it | The publisher, typically specified in the journal's self-archiving policy (SHERPA/RoMEO is the standard reference for embargo lengths by journal) | The funder (via grant conditions, e.g., cOAlition S RRS) or the institution (via a standing licence, e.g., UK-SCL) |
| Effect on Green OA timing | Delays Green OA deposit by 6-24 months after publication; the AAM cannot be shared during the embargo without breach of the publisher agreement | Enables immediate deposit and open access at the time of publication; the CC BY licence applied pre-submission supersedes any later embargo clause |
| Plan S compliance | Embargoes are incompatible with Plan S, which requires immediate open access (no embargo) for all cOAlition S-funded research | The cOAlition S RRS is designed specifically to achieve Plan S compliance when publishing in subscription or hybrid journals |
| Author control | Low — the author has accepted the publisher's terms and must wait for the embargo period to expire | High — the CC BY licence is applied by the author (or funder) before submission and is irrevocable; it does not require the publisher's agreement |
| Licence applied | After the embargo lifts, the author typically self-archives the AAM; the licence for reuse depends on the journal's policy | cOAlition S RRS requires CC BY (Attribution); UK-SCL typically applies CC BY-NC (Attribution, Non-Commercial) |
| Works with hybrid journals? | Yes — hybrid journals accept manuscripts and impose embargoes in the same way as fully subscription journals | Yes — rights retention strategies were specifically designed to enable open access via subscription and hybrid journals without requiring APC payment |
| Requires negotiation with publisher? | No negotiation — the embargo length is set in the journal's standard self-archiving policy and applies by default | No negotiation required — the prior licence is legally established before submission; publishers are notified via a statement in the cover letter or manuscript |
Common questions
FAQ
Does rights retention work with all journals?+
The legal position of cOAlition S is that the CC BY licence applied to the AAM takes precedence over any conflicting terms in a later licence-to-publish agreement, because it is applied first. This means it should work with any journal. In practice, some publishers have disputed this interpretation. Authors affected should consult their institution's open access team or their funder's guidance.
How does an author apply the cOAlition S Rights Retention Strategy?+
Authors funded by a cOAlition S member (such as Wellcome Trust, UKRI, or ERC) include a specified statement in their submission cover letter or in the manuscript's acknowledgements: "For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) arising from this submission." The funder's grant conditions require this as a condition of funding.
What is the difference between the UK-SCL and the cOAlition S RRS?+
The UK Scholarly Communications Licence (UK-SCL) is an institution-level mechanism: a university adopts it as standing policy, asserting on behalf of all its researchers that the institution retains a non-exclusive licence over all AAMs, typically applying CC BY-NC. The cOAlition S RRS is a funder-level mechanism applying to specific funded research; it requires CC BY (not just CC BY-NC). The two approaches are complementary.
Going deeper
