FAIR Synthesis: RoMEO

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RoMEO: Rights MEtadata for Open archiving  

The RoMEO project has provided valuable insights into the IPR issues of sharing resources using the Open Archives Initiative, especially e-prints. Surveys of authors, journal publishers, OAI data providers, and OAI service providers have built up a body of data on the rights these various parties are willing to allow and/or would like to see. A directory of publisher self-archive policies was created and has attracted much attention; this is now being maintained by the ongoing SHERPA project. Solutions to allow all e-prints to include an IPR statement in associated metadata were created and these have been investigated further through co-operation with both the Creative Commons and an OAI-rights Technical Working Group for incorporation in the OAI specification itself.  

Further information is available via the JISC project page and the project website. The  final report from the project is also available. 

Outputs from the project include a series of reports of the surveys carried out, the RoMEO rights solution, guidance and advocacy documentation on copyright, including the publisher copyright policy directory, and a number of  publications and  presentations. Subsequent work based on RoMEO's results has also taken place. 

Contact

Charles Oppenheim
Department of Information Science
Loughborough University
Loughborough
Leicestershire LE11 3TU

Email: c.oppenheim@lboro.ac.uk
Tel: 01509 223065

Reports

RoMEO carried out a series of surveys and the results of these are described in the following reports. The final report is also available describing the work of the project overall. All  the reports are available.

  • Project final report
  • RoMEO Studies 1: The impact of copyright ownership on academic self-archiving
  • RoMEO Studies 2: How academics wish to protect their open-access research paper
  • RoMEO Studies 3: How academics expect to use open-access research papers
  • RoMEO Studies 4: An analysis of Journal publishers’ Copyright Agreements
  • RoMEO Studies 5: IPR issues for OAI Data and Service Providers
  • RoMEO Studies 6: Rights metadata for open-archiving

Specification

The  RoMEO Rights Solution document is available. This paper describes a way in which rights information can be stored and presented within metadata records, for use when metadata is being harvested using OAI.  The RoMEO Solution has used the Creative Commmons licences as its basis for stating rights.

Guidance and advocacy

The RoMEO publisher copyright & self-archiving policies directory is now hosted and maintained by the SHERPA project as a searchable database. Additional information for inclusion is welcome and can be submitted. 

The following  materials were produced for use in advocacy campaigns within institutions:

  • ‘Know your rights’ a one page handout encouraging authors to retain their rights and self-archive
  • ‘How can I self-archive AND get my paper published?’ - a table helping authors to see how to self-archive AND get published without breaking copyright transfer agreements
  • ‘The author, the publisher, their copyright agreement and it’s terms’ [PowerPoint] reporting on the analysis of journal publisher copyright agreements and encouraging authors to retain rights and self-archive

Subsequent work

RoMEO's work has influenced and fed into the formation of the OAI-rights Technical Working Group in the US, which sought to extend the findings from RoMEO as a generic solution for use with the OAI specification. Implementation guidelines have been produced.

The work of RoMEO has also influenced the development of joint further work on copyright and author's rights by the JISC and the SURF Foundation in the Netherlands. See details.  

RoMEO is quoted frequently by third parties, e.g., in an  ISI analysis of citation factors for OA journals.

Publications

Gadd, E., Oppenheim, C. and Probets, S., RoMEO studies 5: IPR issues facing OAI data and service providers, The Electronic Library, 2004, 22(2): 121-138

Gadd, E., Oppenheim, C. and Probets, S., RoMEO Studies 6: rights metadata in open archiving, Program, 2004, 38(1): 5-14

Gadd, E., Oppenheim, C. and Probets, S., RoMEO Studies 2: how academics want to protect their open-access research papers, Journal of Information Science, 2003, 29(5): 333-356

Gadd, E., Oppenheim, C., and Probets, S., The intellectual property rights issues facing self-archiving: key findings of the RoMEO project, D-Lib, 2003 9(9), available at http://www.dlib.org/dlib/september03/gadd/09gadd.html

Gadd, E., Oppenheim, C. and Probets, S., The RoMEO Project: Protecting metadata in an open access environment, Ariadne, 2003, Issue 36, available at http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue36/romeo/

Gadd, E., Oppenheim, C. and Probets, S., ROMEO Studies 1: the impact of copyright ownership on academic author self-archiving,  Journal of Documentation, 2003, 59(3): 243-277
Gadd, E., Oppenheim, C. and Probets, S., ROMEO 3: how academics expect to use open-access papers, Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 2003, 35(3): 171-188

Gadd, E., Oppenheim, C. and Probets, S., ROMEO Studies 4: an analysis of journal publishers' copyright agreements, Learned Publishing, 2003, 16(4): 293-308

Gadd, E.A., Oppenheim, C. and Probets, S.G., Self archiving - the 'right' thing? An introduction to the ROMEO Project, SCONUL Newsletter, 2002, Issue 27: 34-37, available at http://www.sconul.ac.uk/news/

Presentations

How academics wish to protect their open-access research papers, Elizabeth Gadd, Fair Play and Fair Pay: seminar of the British Computer Society Electronic Publishing Specialist Group and the Copyright Licensing Agency, 18th September 2003

RoMEO Project Results, Elizabeth Gadd, 4th OA Forum Workshop, University of Bath, 4-5th September 2003, available at http://www.oaforum.org/workshops/bath_programme.php

The author, the publisher, his copyright agreement and it’s terms, Elizabeth Gadd, DAEDALUS Advocacy event, University of Glasgow, 18th June 2003

Workshop and discussion on RoMEO project outcomes, Elizabeth Gadd, JISC IPR workshop, 29th May 2003

IPR issues facing open access.  The Open Archives Initiative: application and exploitation, Elizabeth Gadd, UKSG Seminar, London, 14th May 2003, available at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/disresearch/romeo/Romeo%20Deliverables.htm

The impact of copyright ownership on open access, Elizabeth Gadd, Leeds Scholarly Communications meeting, 26th March 2003

The impact of copyright ownership on open access, Elizabeth Gadd, EUSIDIC Spring Meeting, Karlsruhe, Germany, 18th March 2003, available at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/disresearch/romeo/Romeo%20Deliverables.htm

IPR: barrier to open access?  Elizabeth Gadd, USTLG meeting, Newcastle University, 4th March 2003, available at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/disresearch/romeo/Romeo%20Deliverables.htm

See also

DAEDALUS
Electronic Theses
ePrints UK 
HaIRST
SHERPA
TARDis
Theses Alive!

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