DURING the publishing process

Peer review is a means of quality assurance in which journal articles but also research funding applications etc are evaluated qualitatively by recognised experts in the respective subject area. Peer Review has been in place in scholarly publishing for more than 300 years.

Peer review is also important for distinguishing recognised Open Access journals from journals of so-called Predatory Publishers. Such fake journals lack substantial (or any) quality assurance but still demand the payment of Article Processing Charges.

Three forms of peer review can currently be distinguished:

• Single blind: The authors are not informed who has been selected as reviewers. This is to prevent any influence on the peer review.
• Double blind: Even the reviewers do not know whose article is available. This is intended to promote an objective evaluation.
• Open: This includes various new approaches to the peer review process, such as, for example, that the names of the authors and the reviewers are known for the sake of transparency, or that the review process is public and anyone can comment on an article. In the case of an Open Peer Review, it is essential to obtain precise information about the peer review process used.

Copyright and exploitation rights

As the author of a publication, you hold all intellectual property rights. For a publication in a publishing house, authors usually transfer the exploitation rights to this publishing house, but ideally this should not be done without restrictions.

Publishing contracts often contain a provision that includes the transfer of all exploitation rights to the publisher. This severely restricts, if not excludes, further publication options for authors. This is particularly relevant with regard to possible Open Access secondary publications. Therefore, be sure to negotiate at least the rights for secondary publication of your work. The publication services provide researchers with various templates for such amendments. The staff of the Law and Organization department are available to answer specific legal questions. Collecting societies also provide information on legal aspects and advise on individual questions.

Creative Commons licenses allow authors to easily determine in which ways their publications may be reused.

Please refer to our website or staff for further information on CC licenses and consultancy.