Open data in publications – non-copyrightability and attribution as drivers for equity, science and innovation
Abstract
The mobilization of the wealth of existing biodiversity data is fundamental for the development of large, dynamic and multifaceted datasets and their historical baselines. Biodiversity data need to be reliably and persistently linked to their sources in literary works and in databases. For this purpose, biodiversity data in scholarly publications and their associated repositories have to be transformed to provide findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable resources as a core foundation of interlinked, federated information. Unclear rights and obligations form a substantial obstacle to the reuse and effective interlinking of data, and thus to scientific workflows. Therefore, it is key to understand and implement the legal, ethical and social foundations that are crucial for arriving at informed decisions on the access to and the transformation and reuse of such data.
The aim of this article is to provide legal clarity to providers and users of such data, and to give recommendations arising from the analysis of the legal background and of community norms requiring attribution, transparency, and accountability. The goal of the resulting recommendations is to empower the biodiversity sciences and data community, including publishers, authors and users, to apply appropriate legal tools as well as language that will provide legal certainty, thereby accelerating the access to and annotation, extraction and reuse of data contained within publications, both legacy and prospective.
The paper is the outcome of a workshop organized during the annual meeting of TDWG, the Biodiversity Information Standards organization, held in Sofia, Bulgaria in October 2022. Its focus was on legal and contractual obligations governing data within works and databases. It also addressed community norms, focusing on attribution as well as ethical and sociocultural principles.
References
Adriaans P. 2023. Information. In: Zalta E.N. & Nodelman U. (eds) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2023 Edition). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. Available from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2023/entries/information/.
Agosti D., Bénichou L., Addink W., Arvanitidis C., Catapano T., Cochrane G., Dillen M., Döring M., Georgiev T., Gérard I., Groom Q., Kishor P., Kroh A., Kvaček J., Mergen P., Mietchen D., Pauperio J., Sautter G. & Penev L. 2022. Recommendations for use of annotations and persistent identifiers in taxonomy and biodiversity publishing. Research Ideas and Outcomes 8: e97374. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.8.e97374
Anonymous 2014. The Bouchout Declaration for Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management. Available from https://www.bouchoutdeclaration.org/ [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Ball A. 2014. How to license research data. Digital Curation Centre: DCC How-to Guides. Available from https://www.dcc.ac.uk/guidance/how-guides/license-research-data [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Bénichou L., Gérard I., Laureys É. & Price M. 2018. Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) best practices in electronic publishing in taxonomy. European Journal of Taxonomy 475: 1–37. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2018.475
Bénichou L., Guidoti M., Gérard I., Agosti D., Robillard T. & Cianferoni F. 2021. European Journal of Taxonomy: a deeper look into a decade of data. European Journal of Taxonomy 782: 173–196. https://doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2021.782.1597
Bénichou L., Buschbom J., Campbell M., Hermann E., Kvacek J., Mergen P., Mitchell L., Rinaldo C. & Agosti D. 2022. Joint statement on best practices for the citation of authorities of scientific names in taxonomy by CETAF, SPNHC and BHL. Research Ideas and Outcomes 8: e94338. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.8.e94338
Bénichou L., Agosti D., Egloff W., Hermann E., Kageyama M., Mergen P., Rinaldo C. & Buschbom J. 2023. Joint statement by CETAF, SPNHC and BHL on DATA within scientific publications: clarification of [non]copyrightability. Research Ideas and Outcomes 9: e115466. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.9.e115466
Brainard J. & Kaiser J. 2022. U.S. to require free access to papers on all research it funds. Science 377 (6610): 1026–1027. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade6577
Bundesversammlung der Schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft. 1992. SR 231.1: Bundesgesetz vom 9. Oktober 1992 über das Urheberrecht und verwandte Schutzrechte (Urheberrechtsgesetz, URG) (Federal Act on Copyright and Related Rights (Copyright Act, CopA) of 9 October 1992) (Status as of 1 July 2023). Available from https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/en/cc/internal-law/23#231.
Carroll S.R., Garba I., Figueroa-Rodríguez O.L., Holbrook J., Lovett R., Materechera S., Parsons M., Raseroka K., Rodriguez-Lonebear D., Rowe R., Sara R., Walker J.D., Anderson J. & Hudson M. 2020. The CARE Principles for indigenous data governance. Data Science Journal 19: 43. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2020-043
Carroll S.R., Herczog E., Hudson M., Russell K. & Stall S. 2021. Operationalizing the CARE and FAIR Principles for indigenous data futures. Scientific Data 8 (1): 108. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00892-0
CBD. 2022. 15/4. Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD/COP/DEC/15/4). Available from https://www.cbd.int/conferences/2021-2022/cop-15/documents.
Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment. 2024. About. Available from https://coara.eu/ [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Cosens B., Ruhl J.B., Soininen N., Gunderson L., Belinskij A., Blenckner T., Camacho A.E., Chaffin B.C., Craig R.K., Doremus H., Glicksman R., Heiskanen A.-S., Larson R. & Simila J. 2021. Governing complexity: Integrating science, governance, and law to manage accelerating change in the globalized commons. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 118 (36): e2102798118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2102798118
Council of the European Union. 2022. Research assessment and implementation of Open Science, 10126/22. Available from https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/56958/st10126-en22.pdf.
Council of the European Union. 2023. High-quality, transparent, open, trustworthy and equitable scholarly publishing, 9616/23. Available from https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9616-2023-INIT/en/pdf.
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. 2022. Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice: Code of Conduct. Available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6472827.
Deutscher Bundestag. 2021. Urheberrechtsgesetz vom 9. September 1965 (BGBl. I S. 1273), das zuletzt durch Artikel 25 des Gesetzes vom 23. Juni 2021 (BGBl. I S. 1858) geändert worden ist (UrhG) (German federal copyright law from September 9, 1965, changed most recently on June 23, 2021). Available from https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/BJNR012730965.html#BJNR012730965BJNG004800123.
Dulong de Rosnay M. & Stalder F. 2020. Digital commons. Internet Policy Review 9 (4). https://doi.org/10.14763/2020.4.1530
Egloff W., Agosti D., Patterson D., Hoffmann A., Mietchen D., Kishor P. & Penev L. 2016. Data policy recommendations for biodiversity data. EU BON Project Report. Research Ideas and Outcomes 2: e8458. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.2.e8458
Egloff W., Agosti D., Kishor P., Patterson D. & Miller J. 2017. Copyright and the use of images as biodiversity data. Research Ideas and Outcomes 3: e12502. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.3.e12502
European Commission. 2020. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions – A European strategy for data. COM(2020)66. Available from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0066.
European Commission. 2021. Towards a reform of the research assessment system: scoping report. Publication Office. Available from https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/707440.
European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation & Angelopoulos C. 2022. Study on EU copyright and related rights and access to and reuse of scientific publications, including open access – Exceptions and limitations, rights retention strategies and the secondary publication right. Available from https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2777/891665.
European Parliament and Council. 1996. Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases. Available from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A31996L0009.
European Parliament and Council. 2019a. Directive (EU) 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC (Text with EEA relevance.). Available from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32019L0790.
European Parliament and Council. 2019b. Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information (recast). Available from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/1024/oj.
European Parliament and Council. 2022. Regulation (EU) 2022/868 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2022 on European data governance and amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 (Data Governance Act). Available from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32022R0868.
European Parliament and Council. 2023. Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 and Directive (EU) 2020/1828 (Data Act). Available from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2854.
Gervais D.J. 2017. (Re)structuring Copyright. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK / Northampton, MA, USA. Available from https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/re-structuring-copyright-9781789902143.html.
GO FAIR. 2024. FAIRification Process. Available from https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/fairification-process/ [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Group on Earth Observations. 2021. GEO Statement on Open Knowledge. Available from https://earthobservations.org/storage/documents/Open-Knowledge/GEO-17-4.1_GEO%20Statement%20on%20Open%20Knowledge.pdf [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Guidi S. 2023. Innovation commons for the data economy. Digital Society 2 (2): 31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44206-023-00059-x
Hahnel M., Smith G., Schoenenberger H., Scaplehorn N. & Day L. 2023. The State of Open Data 2023. Digital Science Report. Available from https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24428194.v1.
Hardisty A., Ellwood E.R., Nelson G., Zimkus B., Buschbom J., Addink W., Rabeler R., Bates J., Bentley A., Fortes J.A.B., Hansen S., Macklin J.A., Mast A., Miller J.T., Monfils A.K., Paul D.L., Wallis E. & Webster M. 2022. Digital Extended Specimens: Enabling an extensible network of biodiversity data records as integrated digital objects on the Internet. BioScience 72 (10): 978–987. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biac060
Hudson M., Carroll S.R., Anderson J., Blackwater D., Cordova-Marks F.M., Cummins J., David-Chavez D., Fernandez A., Garba I., Hiraldo D., Jager M.B., Jennings L.L., Martinez A., Sterling R., Walker J.D. & Rowe R.K. 2023. Indigenous peoples’ rights in data: a contribution toward indigenous research sovereignty. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics 8: 1173805. https://doi.org/10.3389/frma.2023.1173805
Huemer M.-A. 2021. Revision of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases. Briefing – Implementation Appraisal. Available from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2021)694232 [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Kalkman S., Mostert M., Gerlinger C., van Delden J.J.M. & van Thiel G.J.M.W. 2019. Responsible data sharing in international health research: a systematic review of principles and norms. BMC Medical Ethics 20 (1): 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-019-0359-9
Lin D., Crabtree J., Dillo I., Downs R.R., Edmunds R., Giaretta D., De Giusti M., L’Hours H., Hugo W., Jenkyns R., Khodiyar V., Martone M.E., Mokrane M., Navale V., Petters J., Sierman B., Sokolova D.V., Stockhause M. & Westbrook J. 2020. The TRUST Principles for digital repositories. Scientific Data 7 (1): 144. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-020-0486-7
Ministère de la Culture. 2021. Ordonnance n° 2021-1518 du 24 novembre 2021 complétant la transposition de la directive 2019/790 du Parlement européen et du Conseil du 17 avril 2019 sur le droit d’auteur et les droits voisins dans le marché unique numérique et modifiant les directives 96/9/CE et 2001/29/CE. Journal Officiel de la République Française (JORF) n° 0274 du 25 novembre 2021, Texte n° 15 (NOR : MICB2121839R). Available from https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000044362034.
Musgrave R.A. & Musgrave P.B. 1989. Public Finance in Theory and Practice. 5th (International) Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA.
National Science Foundation. 2023. NSF Public Access Plan 2.0: Ensuring Open, Immediate and Equitable Access to National Science Foundation Funded Research. National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., USA. Available from https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23104/nsf23104.pdf [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Nikander P., Eloranta V., Karhu K. & Hiekkanen K. 2020. Digitalisation, anti-rival compensation and governance: Need for experiments. Abstract from Nordic Workshop on Digital Foundations of Business, Operations, and Strategy. Espoo, Finland. Available from https://acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/41477511/Nikander_et_al_2nd_DBOS.pdf [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
OECD. 2021. Recommendation of the Council on Enhancing Access to and Sharing of Data, OECD/LEGAL/0463. Available from https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0463#mainText [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Office of Science and Technology Policy. 2022. Memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agencies: Ensuring free, immediate, and equitable access to federally funded research. Available from https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/08-2022-OSTP-Public-Access-Memo.pdf [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Oldham P.D., Chiarolla C. & Thambisetty S. 2023. Digital Sequence Information in the UN High Seas Treaty: Insights from the Global Biodiversity Framework-related Decisions. LSE Law School – Policy Briefing Series 53. http://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4343130
Patterson D.J., Egloff W., Agosti D., Eades D., Franz N., Hagedorn G., Rees J.A. & Remsen D.P. 2014. Scientific names of organisms: attribution, rights, and licensing. BMC Research Notes 7: 79. https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-0500-7-79
Paul E.S. & Stokes D. 2023. Creativity. In: Zalta E.N. & Nodelman U. (eds) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2023 Edition). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. Available from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2023/entries/creativity/.
Penev L., Koureas D., Groom Q., Lanfear J., Agosti D., Casino A., Miller J., Arvanitidis C., Cochrane G., Hobern D., Banki O., Addink W., Kõljalg U., Copas K., Mergen P., Güntsch A., Bénichou L., Benito Gonzalez Lopez J., Ruch P., Martin C., Barov B., Demirova I. & Hristova K. 2022. Biodiversity Community Integrated Knowledge Library (BiCIKL). Research Ideas and Outcomes 8: e81136. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.8.e81136
Platt J.R. 1964. Strong inference. Science 146 (3642): 347–353. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.146.3642.347
Plazi. 2023. 15 years of discovering known biodiversity. Available from http://plazi.org/posts/2023/12/15-years/ [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Purtova N. & van Maanen G. 2024. Data as an economic good, data as a commons, and data governance. Law, Innovation and Technology 16 (1): 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/17579961.2023.2265270
RDA-CODATA Legal Interoperability Interest Group. 2016. Legal Interoperability of Research Data: Principles and Implementation Guidelines. Available from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.162241 [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Reichman J.H. & Okediji R.L. 2012. When copyright law and science collide: Empowering digitally integrated research methods on a global scale. Minnesota Law Review 96 (4): 1362–1480. Available from https://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ReichmanOkediji_MLR1362.pdf.
Reichman J.H. & Uhlir P.F. 2003. A contractually reconstructed research commons for scientific data in a highly protectionist intellectual property environment. Law and Contemporary Problems 66 (1): 315–462. Available from https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol66/iss1/12/.
Reichman J.H. & Uhlir P.F. 2004. A contractually reconstructed research commons for scientific data: International considerations. In: Open Access and the Public Domain in Digital Data and Information for Science: Proceedings of an International Symposium: 98–102. The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., USA. Available from https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/11030/chapter/25 [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Salwen H. 2021. Research ethical norms, guidance and the internet. Science and Engineering Ethics 27 (6): 67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-021-00342-5
Sequoiah-Grayson S. & Floridi L. 2022. Semantic conceptions of information. In: Zalta E.N. (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2022 Edition). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. Available from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/information-semantic/.
Smith A.M., Katz D.S. & Niemeyer K.E. 2016. Software citation principles. PeerJ Computer Science 2: e86. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.86
U.S. Supreme Court. 1991. Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Tel. Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340. Available from https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep499/usrep499340/usrep499340.pdf.
UNESCO. 2021. UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science. Available from https://doi.org/10.54677/MNMH8546.
UNGA. 2020. Road map for digital cooperation: implementation of the recommendations of the High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation. Report of the Secretary-General. Available from https://www.un.org/en/content/digital-cooperation-roadmap/ [accessed 24 Jun. 2025].
Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives. 2023a. United States Code, 2018 Edition, Supplement 5, Title 17 – Copyrights. Chapter 1 – Subject matter and scope of copyright (Sections 101-122), § 106. Exclusive rights in copyrighted works. Available from https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/uscode/2023/title17/chapter1.
Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives. 2023b. United States Code, 2018 Edition, Supplement 5, Title 17 – Copyrights. Chapter 1 – Subject matter and scope of copyright (Sections 101-122), § 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use. Available from https://www.govinfo.gov/app/collection/uscode/2023/title17/chapter1.
Watanabe M.E. 2018. Digitizing specimens - Legal issues abound. Bioscience 68 (9): 728–728. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy086
Wilkinson M.D., Dumontier M., Aalbersberg I.J.J., Appleton G., Axton M., Baak A., Blomberg N., Boiten J.-W., da Silva Santos L.B., Bourne P.E., Bouwman J., Brookes A.J., Clark T., Crosas M., Dillo I., Dumon O., Edmunds S., Evelo C.T., Finkers R., Gonzalez-Beltran A., Gray A.J.G., Groth P., Goble C., Grethe J.S., Heringa J., ’t Hoen P.A.C., Hooft R., Kuhn T., Kok R., Kok J., Lusher S.J., Martone M.E., Mons A., Packer A.L., Persson B., Rocca-Serra P., Roos M., van Schaik R., Sansone S.-A., Schultes E., Sengstag T., Slater T., Strawn G., Swertz M.A., Thompson M., van der Lei J., van Mulligen E., Velterop J., Waagmeester A., Wittenburg P., Wolstencroft K., Zhao J. & Mons B. 2016. The FAIR Guiding Principles for scientific data management and stewardship. Scientific Data 3: 160018. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2016.18
WIPO. 1979. Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (as amended on September 28, 1979). TRT/BERNE/001. Available from https://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/index.html.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jutta Buschbom, Laurence Bénichou, Donat Agosti, Willi Egloff, Elisa Herrmann, Mariko Kageyama, Andreas Kroh, Patricia Mergen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons Copyright Notices
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are NOT PERMITTED to post their submitted work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on personal websites) prior to publication, as it may lead to nomenclatural issues.
