Open Access is complex. Despite the apparent clarity of Creative Commons licenses, there is actually a lot of variety in how rightsholders define (or fail to define) commercial use. We have been working on this issue with publishers for a very long time. Although some publishers originally defined commercial use by the nature of the user, at this time no major STM publisher uses this definition (thanks to the advocacy of authors, OA funders, and our own publisher relations team). Instead commercial use is now defined by the nature of the intended use case. Some publishers use a narrow definition of commercial use which includes only re-publication and bulk reprinting of the article. Other publishers use a broader definition which includes use in support of a product for sale on the market or intended to be on the market (this includes use in a regulatory submission or for medical affairs purposes). But if the article is to be used purely for research purposes, even if that use is at a commercial organization, a royalty is not expected as long as no modifications are made to the content.
This is the reason you may see what looks like inconsistencies in the way we charge for Open Access articles – our decisions are based not simply on the nature of the requesting customer or the creative commons license of the article, but also on the stated intended use of the article, the publisher’s interpretation of the creative commons license, and whether modifications have been made to the content.
Unfortunately it gets even more complex than that. We regularly discuss these issues with publishers and Open Access advocates. Based on these discussions we know that many publishers have never given serious consideration to what constitutes commercial use. So it is an evolving landscape as we encourage some publishers to define their interpretation and gather new information from other publishers. We are often in the position of having to make judgment calls on royalty payments on OA content. With so much complexity mistakes may be possible, but we are prepared to defend our decision-making process to all stakeholders, including customers, publishers, authors, and funders.
Open Access - General Overview
