Current status and improvement strategies of copyright of biomedical open access journals in Shanghai, China

Abstract:  [Purposes] To analyze the copyright agreement of Shanghai biomedical OA journals and the issues related to copyright in the OA publishing process, and to figure out specific solutions, therefore to provide reference for the development of comprehensive copyright agreements and for adopting appropriate OA statements to OA journals in China. [Methods] This study retrieved and analyzed the member journals of the Committee of Biomedical Periodicals, Shanghai Society for Scientific and Technical Periodicals are the research objects. Based on the OA model of the journals, the copyright agreement and OA statement content of the OA journals are analyzed. The copyright agreement includes the name of the copyright agreement, the signing part of the agreement, the specific content of the copyright involved in the agreement, breach of contract liability and dispute resolution methods, digital publishing and database index-related information network dissemination rights, OA statements and creative commons (CC) license of the journal, and other specific details. [Findings] Among biomedical journals in Shanghai, bronze OA journals have the highest proportion (33.90%, 3837/112), but lack OA statements and CC agreements. In the copyright transfer contracts or OA statements of other types of OA journals, there are unclear copyright content, incorrect naming of rights, lack of provisions on information network dissemination rights, lack of breach of contract liability and dispute resolution methods, and copyright transfer agreements with only the author’s unilateral signature. In addition, the contradiction between the copyright agreement and the CC license mainly lies in the copyright of derivative works. The copyright agreement needs to be standardized. [Conclusions] OA journals should strengthen the management of the content of copyright agreement, improve copyright agreements and OA statements, and thus protect the interests of the publisher, the authors and the readers.