On 5 December, MPDL Services hosted an insightful webinar aimed at guiding scientific authors in Germany on the importance of choosing the right Creative Commons (CC) license when publishing research. The event was a success, attracting over 500 registrants and, at its peak, almost 300 active participants, mainly researchers from universities and research institutes across Germany.
Key highlights included
Introduction by Prof. Gerard Meijer:
Prof. Gerard Meijer, Director at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society and spokesperson for the DEAL consortium, opened the session by explaining the critical role of Open Access licenses, in particular the CC BY license, in the alignment of Open Access policies both in Germany and globally. He highlighted the pitfalls of opting for license types with "non-commercial" restrictions, explaining that such choices often require the transfer of commercial rights to publishers, who typically retain these rights exclusively.
Presentation by Michael Schlachter:
Following Prof. Meijer, Michael Schlachter from the MPDL Services team gave a comprehensive overview of how licenses are integrated into the workflows of DEAL publishers. He demonstrated the process of selecting licenses and explained how these choices effect the subsequent agreements that authors must sign with publishers.
Lessons Learned
The event was well-received, with participants expressing keen interest and actively engaging in the Q&A session. Numerous questions were posed, focusing on copyright issues and broader topics related to DEAL and its agreements. A brief survey conducted at the end of the webinar revealed that researchers found the session very useful and expressed a strong interest in participating in similar events in the future. Overall, the webinar successfully reinforced the DEAL Konsortium's advocacy for the CC BY license and provided valuable insights into the implications of license choices for scientific authors.