Simple Right of Use & License
In order to be able to publish a document on OPUS, we need the authors to grant us a simple right of use (Sec. 31, par. 2 UrhG, Act on Copyright and Related Rights) for their work. You allow us to publish your work freely available worldwide on the internet, to store and convert your data, if applicable. This right also applies to the German National Library and, if required, to subject-specific libraries with a national collection mandate. Furthermore, you assure us that no rights of third parties are violated by publishing the document.
In the case of qualification theses (dissertations, habilitation theses, master’s or bachelor’s theses, etc.) you also assure us that the electronic version corresponds with the approved original version in form and content.
Therefore we need the licensing terms (DE) completed and signed by you in order to publish your document.
The copyrights of the authors remain protected. The publication on OPUS is not opposed to further publication of the document.
Secondary Publications on OPUS
If you can publish a document that has already been published elsewhere additionally via OPUS in electronic form, depends on the agreements you have made with the publisher.
Publishers usually claim the exclusive right of use and record that in the contract accordingly; in case of such a contract you have lost your simple right of use.
However, many publishers are increasingly open to the secondary publication of scientific publications on institutional repositories, although often connected with requirements such as embargo periods. Please take a close look at the publisher’s conditions regarding electronic secondary publication or self-archiving and check if it is permitted.
The SHERPA/RoMEO list provides information on which publishers allow secondary publication on repositories or self-archiving under which conditions. It is not legally binding, however; in case of doubt, the publisher’s contract always applies.
According to the SHERPA/RoMEO list, four color categories can be distinguished to which publishers are assigned in order to classify them in regard to Open Access self-archiving.
Green publishers: Archiving of preprints and postprints is permitted.
Blue publishers: Archiving of postprints (i.e. versions created after peer review, but without the publisher’s own formatting or logo) is permitted.
Yellow publishers: Archiving of preprints (i.e. versions of manuscripts that have been submitted for publication, but have not yet been peer reviewed or recommended for publication) is permitted.
White publishers: Archiving is officially not permitted.
Publications Elsewhere
According to the Act on Copyright and Related Rights, the authors as creators of the documents own all exploitation rights. If a document is first published on OPUS, the author assigns a non-exclusive exploitation right (simple right of use) to the University of Stuttgart Library. Thus, the publication on OPUS is not opposed to further publication of the documents in journals or monographies as well as other servers.
However, you would have to take into account that you will not be able any longer then to assign exclusive or sole rights to a publisher, for example.