A License to Publish is a publishing agreement between author and publisher. Unlike many publishing agreements, it does not transfer the author's copyright to the publisher. Instead, the author retains his copyright and grants the publisher a "sole license to reproduce and communicate the scholarly work and certain other rights needed for publishing". It leaves the author the right to archive his article in an Open Access repository. The JISC/SURF Copyright Toolbox provides a model license.
If, furthermore, you would like to ensure that others can be granted further rights for the use and reuse your work, you may ask the publisher to:
- immediately release your work under a Creative Commons license, or
- limit the term of exclusive rights and to release your work under a Creative Commons license afterwards.
These options can be included in your License to Publish.
Several publishers already combine a License to Publish with Creative Commons licencing. Some require article processing fees to release your work under such terms. These fees can be paid out of the project budget and are fully eligible for reimbursement within the project period.