The scientific process is based on accessing and reusing previous material. Therefore, ambiguous or unclear user rights can slow down the research process and even hamper innovation.

Ensuring there is clarity around access and reuse rights for users, often achieved through clear licensing such as CC BY and Open Access, can accelerate the research process and lead to innovation.

In this article, we explore user rights in academic research and how copyright can impact innovation.

User rights in academic research

Researchers build on the scientific literature and cite it when conducting research and creating an output. This helps preserve integrity and honour the work that came before. To understand the extent to which you can use material in your research, you should refer to its licensing and copyright.

Copyright laws and licensing essentially outline how material can be used, meaning they protect the author and rights holder of the original material whilst also dictating the user’s rights when engaging with it.

User rights outline your ability to ethically and legally use, quote, and share materials. This applies to research articles, data, and any other published works created both by others and yourself.

You must follow copyright law and licensing terms when including work by someone else in your research to maintain legal and ethical standards.

Copyright restrictions and how it can hamper innovation

There can be many restrictions and barriers that impede user rights.

For example, unclear rights may slow down or halt the research process as ensuring lawful engagement requires clarity. Not stating clearly, through a license or otherwise, what a user’s rights are may require the user to contact the creator. During the research process, this disrupts flow and creates an external bottleneck.

Unclear rights are especially common with non-commercial licenses, as the term ‘commercial use’ can be ambiguous. For example, collaboration between public and private institutions can breach the terms of the license, as can use by freelance professionals, e.g., doctors, lawyers, or architects.

Research is vital in the private sector, as it enables evidence-based decisions and allows for the application of research results. Such legal ambiguity essentially acts as a barrier to reuse for the private sector. Click here to learn more about How Open Access Can Boost the Private Sector.

Open Access and CC BY

Open Access (OA) is a model for publishing scholarly research that makes information, typically scholarly articles, immediately available to readers at no cost. The research is often free to reuse for scholarly purposes.

The Creative Commons ‘CC BY license’ is the best license for Open Access because it maximises reuse and dissemination, allowing others to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon work, subject only to the condition that they credit it.

CC BY means there is equal use for all. The legal clarity around the terms of use and sharing remove any ambiguity.

In terms of impact, ensuring users have equal and accessible use rights has many benefits:

• Widen the circulation of research.
• Remove the need for others to ask for permission to share or use work.
• Encourage others to improve, add value to, or build upon the original work.

In short, Open Access ensures that research results are openly accessible and licenses such as CC BY ensure that this research is reusable.

MDPI: ensuring accessibility and reuse

In 2008, MDPI applied the CC BY license to all MDPI journals. This was to align with the BBB definitions (Budapest, Bethesda, Berlin) of Open Access.

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available under an Open Access license, namely, CC BY. This means:

• Everyone has free and unlimited access to the full text of all articles published in MDPI journals.
• Everyone is free to reuse the published material if proper accreditation/citation of the original publication is given.

No special permission is required to reuse all or part of an article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. Simply, you are free to reuse the content in MDPI articles without asking for permission, as long as you cite it correctly.

Open Access supported by a CC BY license ensures user rights are clear and enables reuse can remove barriers to the research process and increase innovation.

We are dedicated to giving you all the information you need to understand Open Access. Our article All You Need to Know About Open Access covers a range of topics.