Cambridge University Press has announced that articles in its Open Access journals can be published with a Creative Commons Attribution licence (‘CC-BY‘).This licence allows users and readers to download, read, reuse and re-distribute freely, as long as they acknowledge the original article.
Following the recommendations of the Finch report, research funders (such as RCUK and the Wellcome Trust) increasingly require papers to be made available in open access publications. Cambridge University Press’ adoption of CC-BY licencing allows authors to meet this specification.
Authors publishing Open Access papers in hybrid journals will have the option of a CC-BY licence, but will also be offered a choice of other CC licences (including CC-BY-NC-SA ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike’ and CC-BY-NC-ND ‘Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives’). This option is also extended to full Open Access journals where the author’s funders or institutional policies do not restrict author’s to CC-BY use. The choice offered will allow authors to select the most suitable licence for their circumstances, depending on requirements of their governments, institutions, funders or other parties.
Managing Director of Cambridge Journals Simon Ross said: “We are keen to offer our authors a range of options for their publishing needs. By using the CC-BY licence for OA articles our authors will be able to comply with the updated policies of funders such as the Wellcome Trust. But this is an environment in flux and a ‘one-size fits all’ solution is contentious in the global markets and disciplines in which we participate. Authors have requested other CC licences and we feel it is appropriate offer choice and flexibility. Additionally, our longstanding Green archiving policy offers an existing alternative route to maximising access and dissemination of our publications.”
The mission of Cambridge University Press is to work with the University and the wider academic community to advance knowledge, education, learning and research. In line with this, the Press fully supports both the Green and Gold open access models. Cambridge has had a Green policy for many years that allows authors to deposit a copy of their Accepted Manuscripts in any non-commercial repository, immediately on acceptance. If they wish to deposit a copy of the published Version of Record, we ask that they respect a 12-month embargo from the date of first online publication. Cambridge Journals publishes five wholly Open Access journals and over 150 hybrid journals. Details can be found here.
