Explainer · Plain-language

Rights Retention: Definition, Meaning & Examples | CASRAI

Rights retention is a strategy that lets authors keep enough rights in their own work to share it openly, rather than signing all rights away to a publisher. By applying an open licence to a manuscript before submitting it, an author can deposit the accepted version in a repository immediately, without waiting out a publisher embargo. It is a route to open access that the author controls.

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The problem rights retention solves

Under traditional publishing, an author often transfers copyright (or grants an exclusive licence) to the publisher. The publisher may then permit self-archiving of the accepted manuscript only after an embargo of, say, 6 to 24 months. For funders and authors who want immediate open access, that embargo is a barrier. Rights retention turns the sequence around. If the author applies an open licence to their manuscript before entering any agreement with the publisher, the right to share that version is already established. The author retains the necessary rights from the outset rather than asking for them back afterwards, which is what enables immediate deposit without an embargo.

The cOAlition S Rights Retention Strategy

The Rights Retention Strategy (RRS) was introduced by cOAlition S, the group of funders behind Plan S, to help authors comply with Plan S's requirement for immediate open access. Under the RRS, authors include a notice in their manuscripts stating that a CC BY licence applies to the Author Accepted Manuscript arising from the submission, and that this is a condition of their funding. Because the CC BY licence is asserted before the author signs a publishing agreement, the strategy is designed so that the author can deposit the AAM in a repository and make it openly available immediately on publication, regardless of the publisher's standard embargo, while the publisher's own version of record remains under its terms.

The UK Scholarly Communications Licence

The UK Scholarly Communications Licence (UK-SCL) is a related, institution-led model. Under it, an institution adopts a policy whereby academics grant the institution a non-exclusive licence over their accepted manuscripts — typically allowing the AAM to be made available under a CC BY licence through the institutional repository. Because this licence is granted to the institution before any agreement with a publisher, it is intended to take precedence over a later copyright transfer, again enabling embargo-free deposit. The UK-SCL and the cOAlition S RRS share the same underlying logic: secure the open-sharing right first, so it cannot be signed away later.

How it interacts with embargoes and publishers

Rights retention directly challenges the embargo model. A standard embargo relies on the author having transferred the relevant rights to the publisher; if the author has already licensed the accepted manuscript openly, the basis for the embargo on that version is removed. In practice this means a funded author can comply with an immediate-open-access mandate even when publishing in a subscription or hybrid journal. Publisher responses vary, and some have updated their policies in light of rights-retention approaches. The key point for authors is that rights retention is a deliberate, upfront assertion of their rights, working alongside Plan S and open-access policy to make immediate sharing possible without paying an article processing charge.

Key facts

At a glance

Definition: Authors keep rights needed to share their work openly
Key strategy: The cOAlition S Rights Retention Strategy (RRS)
Licence: A CC BY licence applied to the Author Accepted Manuscript
Institutional: The UK Scholarly Communications Licence (UK-SCL)
Effect: Enables embargo-free deposit in a repository
Context: Supports Plan S immediate open access without an APC

Common misconceptions

What people often get wrong

Often heard: Rights retention is the same as paying for gold open access.

Actually: No — it lets the author self-archive the accepted manuscript openly without an article processing charge, by retaining rights, rather than paying a publisher to make the version of record open.

Often heard: It applies to the publisher's final version of record.

Actually: No — rights retention typically covers the Author Accepted Manuscript, which the author can license and deposit. The publisher's formatted version of record remains under the publisher's terms.

Often heard: The licence is applied after publication, like a normal deposit.

Actually: No — the open licence is asserted before any publishing agreement is signed. Applying it first is precisely what removes the basis for a later embargo on that version.

Going deeper