In a move that has sparked criticism from the open-access advocacy community and the formation of a global coalition in protest, the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers (STM) recently proposed a new set of model licences.

The ultimate aim of the open-access publishing movement is to make academic research and resources available to the public. However, the material must still be protected, and the rights of the authors preserved.

Thus, an important, but frequently overlooked, aspect of open-access publishing is the licensing and copyright of the resources. 

Currently, most open-access publishers use either individual licences or Creative Commons licences. Creative Commons (CC), a non-profit organisation, has made several copyright licences free of charge to the public.

While authors and publishers retain ownership and copyright with CC licences, the content is accessible for free public use. Examples of content under CC licencing includes Wikipedia articles, YouTube videos, and increasing numbers of research articles.

However, STM proposed that open-access publishers use their model licences as an alternative to individual licences and CC licensing. 

"STM believes that publishers should have the tools to offer a wide variety of appropriate licensing terms dependent on their economic model and business strategy," a spokesperson wrote. A description of the model licences demonstrates that publishers can choose different commercial packages. 

The Public Library of Science (PLOS) has criticised these licences, stating that they are not in alignment with the goals of open-access publishing.

"In their current formulation, these licences would limit the use, reuse and exploitation of research," a PLOS spokesperson continued.

"They would make it difficult, confusing or impossible to combine these research outputs with other public resources and sources of knowledge to the benefit of both science and society."

PLOS points out that use of the STM model licences would make research articles legally incompatible with existing Creative Commons content. 

PLOS has called on other open-access advocacy organisations to sign a Coalition Letter on STM Model Licences, urging the withdrawal of the model licenses.

Over 90 organisations, including government organisations, research libraries and publishers, have signed the letter.

PLOS urges, "Let us work together towards a world where the whole sum of human knowledge, both that from within academia and that from without, is accessible, usable, reusable and interoperable."

ecancermedicalscience journal articles are covered by the Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) Creative Commons licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ecancer is a signatory on the Coalition Letter.