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Grant of Licenses

The licence under which a full text is made available in the repository specifies the terms and conditions under which the end-user may use the text. Together with the main bibliographic metadata and the citation information, the licence is displayed on the cover page that precedes each downloadable document.
The following licences are available to users: the Digital Peer Publishing (DiPP NRW) licences, the CC licences and the Deposit licence. Free licences can be granted if the author still holds the exclusive exploitation rights in the version of the publication to be archived.


Individual Licences:

DiPP Licences

The legally examined licence provided by Digital Peer Publishing (DiPP) NRW is available in three modules: (a) the “basic DiPP licence”, (b) the “modular DiPP licence”, and (c) the “free DiPP licence”.
(a) The “basic licence module” allows users to read the document, to electronically distribute it unchanged, and to make it available for downloading. Because the document may be distributed only electronically, the right to use the work in printed form or on storage media remains with the author and is not covered by this licence. The aim here is to promote the electronic distribution of the work while giving the author the possibility of granting third parties (e.g., a publisher) physical distribution rights.

The two extended modules of the DPPL, the "modular DPPL" and the "free DPPL", go beyond the basic module by also allowing users to modify certain material (e.g., images, diagrams, tables, etc.) or the work as a whole. This supports distributed collaboration and the reuse of material.

(b) Under the "modular DiPP licence," the author grants users the right to make changes to parts of the work that are specifically earmarked as modifiable. While these earmarked parts may be modified at will, the remaining parts may be distributed only unchanged. Hence, the user may be permitted to modify a diagram but not the surrounding text.

(c) Under the "free DiPP licence," anything in the document may be modified, and modified versions may be distributed. When such far-reaching rights are granted, special precautions should be taken to protect the interests of the original authors. This relates, on the one hand, to attribution. When the original work is modified, the original creators are no longer the creators of the derivative work. However, the names of the original creators must be mentioned, unless they specify that their names may not be mentioned. Moreover, the modified versions must also be published under the “free DiPP licence”. In this way, it is ensured that the creator of the modified version does not benefit in a one-sided way from the generosity of the original authors but must make his or her own version available to be built upon by others.

CC Licences

As a non-profit organisation, Creative Commons (CC) offers a number of different standard licences, with which you as an author can specify under what legal terms and conditions your works may be used and distributed.
The most important terms and conditions to which the use of the content is subject are reflected in the names of the respective licences. What all CC licences have in common is that the creator must be credited in the manner specified by him or her. Further licensing features are conditions of redistribution, possibilities of making derivative works, and commercial use. These features yield six types of licences in different combinations:

CC BY Attribution

CC BY-SA Attribution - ShareAlike

CC BY-ND Attribution - NoDerivatives

CC BY-NC Attribution - NonCommercial

CC BY-NC-SA Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike

CC BY-NC-ND Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives

All CC licences may be used in SSOAR. A link to the licence granted is provided on the cover page that SSOAR assigns to the document.

Deposit Licence

This licence is the standard licence under which self-archived publications are made available in SSOAR. This archiving licence must be used, for example, when the author has only a non-exclusive right of use in the publisher’s version. For this reason, the licence is quite restrictive. It allows the end user to reuse (i.e., download and print) the work but not to modify or distribute it.
Only GESIS as repository administrator will through the usage agreement with the archiving author or institution be granted the right, to copy the full text, pass it on and convert it into different formats -  especially with regards to long term archiving.  Whereby the integrity of the content of the publication will remain untouched.

PEER Licence

Irrespective of the active licences special licences have been, or are, granted within the framework of cooperation agreements such as the European PEER Project, which has since been concluded. Full texts that were made available under the PEER-Licence-Agreement are solely intended for your personal, non-commercial use. All of the copies of this documents must retain all copyright information and other information regarding legal protection. You are not allowed to alter this document in any way, to copy it for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the document in public, to perform, distribute or otherwise use the document in public.