Table 6 RLTW Matrix on the aspects of licensing and legal conditions as conditions for the acceptance, dissemination and use of OA in VET research

Technical and structural conditions

Clear stipulations are in place regarding rights of use or the licensing model, e.g. on publication platforms.

There are licensing models, which are easy to understand and to apply, and simple to implement technically.

Legal regulations on the further use of publications are also readily comprehensible for non-legal specialists.

Policy-related and normative conditions

There are clearly understandable licensing models which are easy to apply; Authors can also allocate simple non-exclusive rights of use.

Funding providers stipulate the dissemination of results through OA (e.g. Horizon 2020 funding programme (cf. European Commission (n.d.)); OA guidelines from institutes of higher education regulate and promote the use and dissemination pathways of OA; Requirement to use licence models exist on the part of the infrastructure provider.

Copyright and limitations on copyright are user friendly and provide legal certainty; University repositories have clear legal guidelines which lay claim to a simple non-exclusive right of use the legal conditions of OA repositories thus make them more attractive to academic researchers, rather than imposing any limitations.

Conditions inherent within the academic research system

Acceptance from the academic research system: Access to results from taxpayer-funded research must be ensured.

Professional academic community favours the dissemination of results through OA and is supported by academic specialist associations; Publishing houses accept content which has already been published and do not demand an exclusive right of use.

Open licensing models facilitate new forms of academic research discourse (“collective knowledge”).