Best Practices: Title Platform Transfers (DRAFT)

Background: Perpetual rights and entitlement functionality in Alma DRAFT

• This page is about electronic titles transferring from one platform/publisher to another, not changes in bibliographic titles.

Resources:

NISO transfer alerts: https://www.niso.org/standards-committees/transfer/tas

Ulrichs: http://ulrichsweb.serialssolutions.com/

Keepers: https://keepers.issn.org/

NISO RP-24-2019 Transfer Code of Practice (Version 4.0)
3.4 Perpetual Access
The transferring publisher must ensure continued access to its customers where it has granted
perpetual access rights, even if the transferring publisher will cease to host the online version of the
journal after the effective transfer date. Either the transferring or the receiving publisher, or both,
could fulfill perpetual access obligations. However, all parties (the transferring publisher, receiving
publisher, and journal owner) should consider any perpetual access rights that customers may have
acquired, seek a full understanding of the rights which apply, and ensure that such access is fulfilled.
The Code intentionally does not specify the means or parties to provide such access, but places on the
transferring publisher the responsibility for ensuring that customers to whom it has granted perpetual
access rights will continue to have access post-transfer (see section 6.4).

3.5 Preservation Arrangements
The transferring publisher will alert the receiving publisher to all existing preservation arrangements
for the journal.

Section 6.4 Perpetual Access Information
If the receiving publisher will fulfill perpetual access obligations (see section 3.4), the transferring
publisher will communicate to the receiving publisher where such rights were granted. If the
transferring publisher will continue to fulfill perpetual access obligations, they will ensure that this is
communicated to relevant customers within 4 weeks of signature of the contract or 4 months prior to
the effective transfer date, whichever is the later.