What are Crown Copyright and Open Government Licenses (OGL)?

• Crown Copyright is a form of copyright claimed by the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom.
• Crown Copyright is claimed on works made by civil servants, ministers and government departments and agencies in the course of their duties.

Does Crown Copyright apply to me?

Crown Copyright covers material created by civil servants, ministers and government departments and agencies. If you fall under this description you are most likely eligible to claim Crown Copyright.

If you are unsure, please confirm with your employer if the Crown Copyright option applies to you or not.

Where can I find out more information about Crown Copyright?

Please refer to The National Archives website for more information about Crown Copyright, the UK Government Licensing Framework and for guidance on publication of articles written by ministers and civil servants in journals and conference proceedings.

Please contact National Archives for Crown Copyright queries.

• The OGL is a user license applied to open access articles published by UK government authors.
• Whilst most authors choose one of two Creative Commons licenses (CC BY or CC BY NC ND) UK government authors must select the OGL.

Why has Elsevier agreed to offer the OGL?

The OGL for UK Crown Copyright works is a requirement of the National Archives. Crown Copyright is controlled by Her Majesty's Stationery Office(HMSO) and HMSO is managed and administered by the National Archives. They do not use the Creative Commons licenses and created the OGL for their own purposes.

Which authors can select the OGL?

• Only UK government authors publishing open access and claiming Crown Copyright (i.e. Copyright belongs to the Crown).
• No license choice; once an author identifies themselves as a Crown Servant the only license choice is the OGL.
• Copyright line: Crown Copyright © [YEAR] Published by ELSEVIERCOMPANY [on behalf of [SOCIETY]]. This is an open access article under the Open Government Licence (OGL).

Which user license can I select?

If you are a UK Crown author and eligible to select the Open Government License (OGL) this is the default user license to choose.

The OGL license allows the user to copy, publish, distribute and transmit the information and exploit the information commercially and non-commercially. For more information click here.

What is the difference between the OGL and other open access licenses?

The OGL license states that its terms are compatible with the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 and the Open Data Commons Attribution License, both of which license copyright and database rights. Please contact National Archives for more information about this.

Most Elsevier open access journals offer a choice of the CC BY and/or CC BY NC ND licenses. The CC BY license grants the reader broader rights and allows commercial use whereas under the CC BY NC ND license the content may only be used for non-commercial purposes and derivative versions of the content may not be distributed to others.

Why can I not select an alternative Creative Commons license?

National Archives requires/recommends the OGL for public sector information. Therefore you should opt for the OGL instead of a Creative Commons license. For more information concerning the UK Government Licensing Framework click here.

Please contact National Archives for more information concerning their policy.

Is there material/information which the OGL does not cover?

Yes, there is some specific information that will not be covered under the OGL. This includes personal data (names and addresses of individuals), military insignia, third party rights that the publisher is not authorized to license as well as information that is subject to other rights such as patents and trademarks. Please refer to the OGL where a more detailed list is provided here.

Is a fee payable when I publish open access under an OGL?

Yes, there is a fee payable when you publish open access under an OGL. The open access publishing fee will need to be paid to cover the costs of publication. Fees range from $500 - $5000. The amount payable will depend on the Elsevier journal.

How do I request open access under OGL?

Overview

This document provides information on the Open Government License (OGL), specifically when an OGL should be used and how to request this as an author.

Introduction

Crown Copyright is a form of copyright claimed by the governments of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It is claimed on works made by civil servants, ministers, and government departments or agencies in the course of their duties.

The OGL is a user license applied to open access (OA) articles published by UK government authors. Whilst most authors choose one of two Creative Commons licenses (CC BY or CC BY NC ND), UK government authors must select the OGL.

The OGL for UK Crown Copyright works is a requirement of the National Archives. Crown Copyright is controlled by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO) and HMSO is managed and administered by the National Archives. They do not use the Creative Commons licenses and created the OGL for their own purposes.

Only UK government authors publishing OA and claiming Crown Copyright (i.e., where copyright belongs to the Crown) can select the OGL.

Under the OGL, readers of the article have the non-exclusive right to:

• Copy, publish, distribute and transmit work
• Adapt the work
• Exploit the work commercially and non-commercially for example, by combining it with other works, or by including it in their own product or application

Procedures

The Rights and Access Form

When completing the Rights and Access (R&A) form you should select the option to publish open access. In the ‘Select Your Status’ section you’ll be asked to confirm whether you are signing the form on behalf of yourself as sole author, all authors, or your employer, with a subsequent question pertaining to Crown Copyright as below:

• I am the sole author of the manuscript

  • I am a UK, Canadian or Australian Government employee and Crown Copyright is asserted
• I am one author signing on behalf of all co-authors of the manuscript

  • All or some of the authors are UK, Canadian or Australian Government employees and Crown Copyright is asserted
• I am signing as an authorized representative and on behalf of my employer

  • The article is authored by UK, Canadian or Australian Government employees and Crown Copyright is asserted

If you select one of these options to assert Crown Copyright, you’ll see the following pop up:

At this point, please stop completing the Rights and Access form and contact us via the Chat option at the bottom of this page.

Once received, Customer Services will check and confirm whether the article is indeed eligible for the OGL. If the article is eligible for the OGL, Customer Services will send you the following to be completed, signed, and dated:

• UK Crown Copyright JPLA
• Funding Body Agreement form
• Open access form

If the article is not eligible for the OGL you will be informed of this by Customer Services and advised to return to the Rights and Access form and proceed with OA publication under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY).