FAQ

What do the clauses in the individual Creative Commons licences mean? 

Creative Commons licenses are six combinations of four clauses:
- BY - the recognition clause in each combination requires the licensee to inform about the creator (licensor), the source, and the license under which the work was used;
- SA - the “on the same terms” clause, known also as the "copyleft clause", is a requirement that in the event of further distribution of the work the licensee should grant the same license as the original one; 
- NC - the non-commercial use clause prohibits any commercial use of the licensed work; 
- ND - the clause “without dependent works” does not allow to freely disposing of derivative works (deciding on creating e.g. translations remains at the discretion of the licensor). 
In case of problems with choosing the relevant Creative Commons license variant for your publications, it is advisable to using the selection simulator available on the website: https://creativecommons.org/choose/?lang=pl  

Do I have to make all my scientific publications openly available?

The emphasis on providing open access is ever increasing concerning those publications that rely on public funding or co-financing. Publications funded from private sources do not have to be made freely accessible unless the institutions or foundations that finance the project require it. 
A separate issue are research data, which in many cases cannot be disseminated (personal data, data concerning security sector and state secrets, etc.) or certain conditions have to be met before they can be made available, e.g. expiry of the time embargo, anonymization of personal data).  

Is open publication different for patents?

No, but it is possible only after the patent procedure has been completed. As the precondition for patenting a particular solution or technology is its originality/innovativeness, it cannot be published openly nor in any other publication model until a patent is granted. 

What is Black Open Access?

Black (Illegal) Open Access has come about because of rising need for quick, easy and free access to scholarly content and materials. It consists in free access to paid articles on pirate websites such as Sci-Hub (often without the author's awareness) or through academic social media such as Academia.edu, ResearchGate or Mendeley. Social networking sites for researchers have a positive impact on communication and flow of information between researchers, but - although this is a kind of expression of the trend towards openness in scholarship – making publications available is often done without consulting and getting their publishers’ consent and in breach of legally binding contracts. Black OA also ignores copyright and costs that under the standard terms and conditions of OA publication are born by the involved parties.

What is an embargo?

In the context of open science, an embargo is the period between publishing a particular text and making it accessible in the OA model. An embargo can be in force for a specified number of months or depend on the effectiveness of sales or running out of print copies.

What is Plan S?

It is an initiative of a group of national agencies supporting scholarly projects and research called cOAlition S. The premise of Plan S is that publications created within the framework of grants financed by coalitionists, e.g. Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, grants of the National Science Centre (NCN), should be widely disseminated and published in open access, preferably under free licenses, such as Creative Commons licenses. More about Plan S can be found on the Open Science pages.

What are postprints and can they be deposited in open repositories?

The POSTPRINTS are texts after reviews and corrections but still before publication. They differ from the published versions in that they do not have their final layout yet. The admissibility of publishing such a version of an article in repositories depends on the agreement signed/the publishing policy of the journal. The Sherpa/Romeo database provides information on publishing policies of many journals.

What are preprints and can they be deposited in open repositories?

The PREPRINTS are the original versions of publications before review and publishing process. They can be deposited by the author in a repository.

What are hybrid magazines?

These are commercial subscription magazines in which only some of the articles are published in the Open Access model. The open access to the text is subject to a fee paid by the author. Publication with some publishers is financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (Open Publication Programmes).

What are open research data? 

Research data are all materials collected, measured and produced within the research process, which are indispensable for reviewing scientific results. These are generally numerical data, text documents, notes, surveys and questionnaires, audiovisual materials, photographs, software, computer simulation results, algorithms, samples, laboratory protocols, methodological descriptions, etc. 
Open research data are data that can be freely accessed by any interested parties without significant legal and technical limitations. They are made widely available via Internet in such a way that they can be reused, modified and made available again in compliance with the applicable law regulations. 

What are so-called predators? 

Predatory journals and predatory publishers offer publication of scholarly texts for a fee omitting a review process and not complying with adequate publishing standards. The potential journals and publishers of this kind are indicated in the Beall’s list at the address: https://beallslist.net/ .
More information on what to take notice of and how to recognize a fake journal can be found here.

What are the benefits of open publishing?

Publishing in OA models ensures: 
- increased visibility of publications on the Web 
- faster dissemination of research results
- a chance to increase the number of quotations
- free promotion of one’s scholarly work and achievements
- increasing the chance of establishing valuable contacts (proposals for grants, also international ones)
Institutions funding scholarly projects, universities and research centres are increasingly adopting open access policies on the assumption that opening up of research results fosters scientific development and innovation and fulfils the mission of social responsibility of science, contributes to a better understanding of importance of discoveries and science by citizens. It is also a way to more effective use of public means (the taxpayer does not pay twice for the same thing, i.e. first to finance research and then to buy a licence to an article that was created as a result of the research financed by public money).