Prior licence model at University of Turku from 1 April 2026

The University of Turku has adopted a prior licence model for research articles by decision of the Rector (TY/440/2026). The model follows the internationally adopted Rights Retention Strategy (RRS), which ensures open access of all the University’s peer-reviewed research articles in the institutional repository immediately upon publication under a Creative Commons licence required by the funder.

The prior licence model is based on the recommendations under Plan S, an initiative led by international research funders. Its aim is to safeguard the researchers’ right to deposit their articles for long-term preservation in the University’s repository and to share them openly, regardless of any restrictions imposed by publishers. This strengthens the security of supply of research-based knowledge and supports economic sustainability. 

The prior licence model applies to peer‑reviewed article manuscripts produced while employed by the University of Turku or holding doctoral study rights at the University, and submitted to a scholarly publication channel for review on or after 1 April 2026. It will not be applied retrospectively to manuscripts submitted for review before 1 April 2026.

Prior licence model in practice

From 1 April 2026, peer‑reviewed research articles authored by researchers at the University of Turku will be deposited in the institutional repository (self‑archived) as follows:

  • The prior licence model applies only to peer‑reviewed scholarly articles in journals, conference proceedings and edited volumes (publication types A1–A4 in the publication data collection of the Ministry of Education and Culture).
  • If an article is published open access under a Creative Commons licence, the publisher’s final version (Version of Record; Publisher’s PDF) will be deposited.
  • If an article is published behind a paywall in a subscription-based publication channel, the latest peer‑reviewed manuscript version (Author Accepted Manuscript, AAM) will be deposited. 

All peer‑reviewed articles deposited in the institutional repository (self-archived), either the publisher’s version (Version of Record) or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM), will be made openly available immediately in the repository under the Creative Commons licence required by the funder. If the funder does not require a specific CC licence, at the University of Turku the self-archived version is pre-licensed under the CC BY 4.0 licence.

If an author does not wish to make an article published behind a paywall openly available immediately, they have the right to request an opt‑out from the prior licence model. In such cases, the article will be made open in accordance with the publisher’s self‑archiving policy.

Further information and support

The University of Turku is committed to providing legal assistance and assuming financial responsibility for researchers employed by the University of Turku or holding doctoral study rights at the University who follow the University’s prior licence model by depositing their manuscript in the University’s public institutional repository. This applies if a publisher alleges that the researcher has breached the self‑archiving terms of their publishing agreement.

Guidance on the prior licence model:

Support is also available from the Turku University Library’s specialists at library@utu.fi.