Open Source Licensing
Open Research Conversation: 2021-11-17
These slides:
Your hosts
Tom Stafford
University Research Practice Lead
Robert (Bob) Turner
Research Software Engineer
Licensing and Intellectual Property (IP) at the University
Disclaimers
Not the University view, nor current TUoS policy
My personal take
Not a lawyer (or a librarian, or a commercialisation manager, or a software engineer…)
These slides:
A simple model
Academic
work
papers
the world
These slides:
A simple model
Academic
work
papers
the world
commercialisation
These slides:
A simple model
Academic
work
papers
the world
commercialisation
citations
cash
These slides:
An open innovation model
Academic
work
methods
data sets
papers
materials, images
code/software
reuse
scrutiny
credit
engagement
investment
the world
These slides:
Drivers for this
Open research
Trust/scrutiny
Team science
Diversity of outputs
Impact / KE
These slides:
Academic text: the old model
University “chooses not to assert its rights”
Author signs rights to publisher
Publisher charges Universities (and everyone else)
New model: rights retention
:
(Endorsed by UKRI, Wellcome, NIHR)
Author submits along with statement on rights retention
Author accepted version of text can be made freely and immediately available (e.g. via institutional repositories)
https://www.coalition-s.org/rights-retention-strategy/
For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) version arising from this submission.
These slides:
Open Innovation @ TUoS : suggestions
Licenses give clarity on authorship/attribution
...and clarity on resue
Permissive licences support the core University mission of creating and sharing knowledge
Open innovation does not have to be the only model available to TUoS researchers
...but it should be available and supported
Licences are confusing and projects have multiple outputs
… so we should consider IP/licensing in the round
… provide defaults
… cover text, data, images, code etc
These slides:
Current work
Report on recommendations on permissive licensing in preparation
How to help researchers find information they need to know, when they need to know it?
Who needs to be involved/ considerations?
Possibility of checklists / flowcharts?
Do you have funders/collaborators who have a say in any IP (especially commercial partners)?
-> talk to them
Do you have confidentiality / privacy restrictions?
-> options: e.g. anonymisation, simulated data, shared methods
Do you wish to explore commercial opportunity?
-> talk to shef.ac.uk/rs/commercialisation
If
Text -> CC BY
Code -> MIT
Next!
University pages on open research
Explore Creative Commons licences
Join Open Research Working Group
Coming for 2022 - research improvement departmental tour: understanding research culture, and barriers to open, robust, research in your discipline.
Comments & questions
Twitter: @tomstafford
These slides:
https://rse.shef.ac.uk/