Digital Peer Publishing Licences
The Digital Peer Publishing Licence (DPPL) is an alternative licence developed in Germany especially for text works or electronic journals. It was created in 2003 on the initiative of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to promote the foundation and spread of e-journals.
The licence comprises three core modules: the basic licence module, the modular licence and the free licence. The three licence modules differ in the extent of the rights of use they grant and especially with respect to the permissibility of (1) the physical distribution of the work, especially in print media, and (2) modifications to the work. Apart from these two aspects, the licences are identical. While the basic DPPL and the modular DPPL allow only the distribution of works in electronic form and permit users to make them available for download, the free DPPL also allows works to be distributed in physical form, especially in print media.
Basic Digital Peer Publishing Licence
The basic licence module allows users to read the work, to electronically distribute verbatim copies and to make it available for download. It does not allow users to modify the work in any way. Hence the basic DPPL is particularly suitable for making available to the public finished works which the author wishes to be distributed verbatim with due attribution. It is the most restrictive of the three licence modules. The fact that no distinction is made between scholarly and commercial use of works is intentional. Because the work may be distributed in electronic form only, the rights of use in print form or on data storage media are retained by the author and are not covered by the licence. The idea is to promote electronic distribution while leaving the copyright holder the option to grant the right of physical distribution to a third party, for example a publisher.
Modular Digital Peer Publishing Licence
This modular licence enables the author to allow modifications to the work, but only in the areas designated as modifiable. These modifiable areas may then be altered at will. The other parts of the work, however, may be distributed only verbatim. Hence the modular DPPL allows the licensor to make certain parts of the document available for interactive collaboration. For example, individual graphs or formulae might be designated as modifiable while the text of the document might have to remain unchanged.
Free Digital Peer Publishing Licence
The free Digital Peer Publishing Licence allows the work to be altered and permits the distribution of altered versions. Hence the licence is particularly suited to situations where several scientists collaborate on a work. Where such far-reaching rights of use are granted, special precautions should be taken to protect the interests of the original author. This relates, on the one hand, to attribution. If the original work is altered, then the original author is no longer the author of the altered work. However, reference should be made to the original author, unless the author decrees that his/her name should not be mentioned. Furthermore, altered versions must also be distributed under a free DPPL, thereby ensuring that the author of the modified version does not benefit one-sidedly from the generosity of the original author but rather is obliged to make the altered version available for further development.
Download the Digital Peer Publishing Licences
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