ReCreating Europe workshop “Secondary Publishing Right: exploring the opportunities and limitations” (Organisers: Project partners from the reCreating Europe project & LIBER)

The former consists of publishing with open licenses on OA publishing venues, the latter in re-publishing works previously published in OA venues. Focusing on the Green Road, the workshop aims at presenting and discussing the second (or secondary) publication right in the context of scientific publications as a key instrument to implement Open Access (OA) and a hot topic of interest for libraries and archives.

The second publication right consists in the right to re-publish and communicate the work to the public. It could be retained by the author by means of contract negotiations (to which disbalancing conditions may apply), but it is rarely applied in the current publishing context. It could also be granted by legislation which appears to be a more practicable and sustainable option. Yet, only few countries offer to date such a possibility and still with many limitations, despite the potential of such a right to rebalance the current distorted ecosystem of scientific communication, where scientific authors have little freedom and control over their thoughts and works.

After a short and provoking introduction, where selected speakers will introduce key controversial issues related to the second publication right, participants will be invited to join smaller breakout sessions. Here participants will be guided by moderators in understanding the functioning of the current operative or proposed models and asked to engage in the analogical application of that model in other countries (e.g. the countries of the participants).

Breakout sessions are five, each covering the following models: Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy. The outcomes of the breakout sessions will be then shared in the conclusive plenary discussion.

After the workshop, participants will be informed on the opportunities and challenges of Green Open Access and the secondary publication right, especially in relation to the legal framework where it is currently implemented. They will also be able to discuss the feasibility of transposing such a right in legal contexts where it has not been yet implemented.