This Service Agreement (this “Agreement”) is by and between Thoth Open Metadata, a non-profit CIC organised under UK law, and the organisation identified on the signature page hereto (“Publisher”), and is dated as of the date set forth on the signature page hereto (the “Effective Date”).
A. Thoth Open Metadata is a non-profit organisation facilitating the creation, curation, and dissemination of high-quality open metadata records which are essential for the advancement of public knowledge. To that end, Thoth Open Metadata
B. Crossref is a not-for-profit membership organisation that exists to make scholarly communications better. Its mission is to “make research outputs easy to find, cite, link, and assess.” To that end, Crossref
All of the above functions and offerings, including associated systems, hardware, software, and know-how, are referred to in this Agreement as the “Crossref Infrastructure and Services.”
C. Membership in Crossref is open to organisations that produce Content and otherwise meet the terms and conditions of membership established from time to time by Crossref, and to such other entities as Crossref may determine from time to time. Membership in Crossref is governed by Crossref’s Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws (collectively, the “Crossref Governing Documents”), together with the Crossref Membership Terms, as amended from time to time (the “CrossRef Membership Terms”).
D. Crossref wishes to extend the benefits of Crossref membership and services to qualifying entities, including those that may require additional support in fulfilling the obligations of Crossref membership. For that reason, Thoth Open Metadata and Crossref have agreed that Thoth Open Metadata shall, on Crossref’s behalf, from time to time provide certain agency, solicitation, and administrative services (collectively, the “Support Services”) in support of Sponsored Members (as defined herein).
Crossref has appointed Thoth Open Metadata to act as its agent, for the limited purposes set forth in this document and on the terms and conditions set forth herein.
Thoth Open Metadata is authorised to solicit organisations that
(i) publish professional and scholarly materials and content to become Crossref members and
(ii) meet the criteria agreed between Crossref and Thoth Open Metadata, having been defined as focusing on “small and scholar-led publishers of Open Access books worldwide that would be in the lowest two fee tiers if they were to join Crossref directly”.
Organisations that become Crossref members as a result of Thoth Open Metadata’s solicitation and who agree to receive Support Services from Thoth Open Metadata are referred to in this Agreement as “Sponsored Members.”
The prospective Sponsored Member agrees to provide Crossref with its name, organisational details (nature of the entity and its for-profit/non-profit status), and contact information.
This is to be facilitated through a bespoke registration link provided by Thoth Open Metadata, through which submission of the above required details to Crossref can be furnished, and a direct affiliation with Thoth Open Metadata sponsorship scheme can be guaranteed.
The Sponsored Member also agrees to provide Thoth Open Metadata with contact details of an assigned contact point at Sponsored Member’s publishing
To become a Crossref member, a prospective Sponsored Member must agree to be bound by the Crossref Membership Terms. These Membership terms are publicly available via Crossref’s web pages either through navigating to the respective entry, or by direct access through https://www.crossref.org/membership/terms/.
The Sponsored Member authorises Thoth Open Metadata to provide Support Services to such Sponsored Member, including to act on its behalf with respect to such Sponsored Member’s membership in Crossref.
Under this agreement, Sponsored Member will be enabled to facilitate registration of DOIs with Crossref directly through Thoth Open Metadata’s platform. To aid Thoth Open Metadata in fulfilling its responsibility, the Sponsored Member agrees to provide Thoth Open Metadata with the information required to successfully submit Content to Crossref on behalf of Sponsored Member.
Prior to, or as soon as reasonably practicable after, online publication of a Sponsored Member’s Content, the Sponsored Member agrees to deposit with Crossref the Metadata corresponding to such Content.
The Sponsored Member agrees to assign an Identifier to each Content item it deposits, for registration within the Crossref Infrastructure and Services.
Promptly upon an entity’s becoming a Sponsored Member, the Sponsored Member agrees to embed the appropriate Identifier(s) within each reference citation appearing in such Sponsored Member’s Content.
The Sponsored Member agrees to maximise linking through Identifiers to other Content within the Crossref Infrastructure and Services, known in this Agreement as “Reference Linking.”
With respect to each Identifier assigned to a Sponsored Member’s Content, the Sponsored Member agrees to use commercially reasonable efforts to
(i) display each Identifier in a location and format that comply with the Crossref Display Guidelines, as updated on Crossref’s Website from time to time, and
(ii) ensure each Identifier is hyperlinked so as to be citable.
The Sponsored Members agrees to ensure that each Identifier assigned to Content of any Sponsored Member continuously resolves to a response page – which in Thoth is called the “Landing Page” – containing, at a minimum,
(i) complete bibliographic information about the corresponding Content (including the Identifier), visible on the initial page, with reasonably sufficient information detailing how the Content can be cited and accessed, and/or
(ii) a hyperlink leading to the Content itself, in each case in accordance with Crossref’s Display Guidelines.
The Identifier shall serve as the permanent URL link to the response page. The Sponsored Member agrees to register the response page URL with Crossref, keep it up-to-date and active, and promptly correct any errors or variances communicated by Crossref via Thoth Open Metadata. The Sponsored Member is solely responsible to maintain the accuracy of data associated with each Identifier relating to Sponsored Members’ Content, and the validity and operation of the corresponding URL(s) containing the response page, and related pages.
Some examples of failures to maintain and update Metadata consistent with this Section include:
1) publishing or communicating Identifiers without registering them with Crossref; 2) withdrawing content without posting a notification and updating the record’s URL/metadata with Crossref; or 3) registering new Identifiers with a Sponsored Member’s prefix for content that already had Identifiers registered by a prior publisher.
The Sponsored Member agrees to use best efforts to contract with a third-party archive or other content host (an “Archive”) (a list of which can be found here) for such Archive to preserve the Sponsored Members’ Content and, in the event that a Sponsored Member ceases to host its Content, to make such Content available for persistent linking. Thoth Open Metadata has authorised Crossref, solely in the event an Archive becomes the primary location of a Sponsored Member’s Content, to contract directly with such Archive for the purpose of ensuring the persistence of links to such Content. Thoth Open Metadata has agreed that, in the event that Content permanently ceases to be maintained by the Sponsored Member itself, Crossref is entitled to redirect Identifiers to an Archive or a “Defunct DOI” page hosted by Crossref.
As part of the general Sponsorship agreement between Crossref and Thoth Open Metadata, it has been agreed that Sponsored Members’ annual Crossref membership fee will be waived. In principle, Thoth Open Metadata also agrees to pay for the content registration fees incurred by Sponsored Member.
Applying a fair use policy, Thoth Open Metadata reserves the right to invoice Sponsored Members who are exceeding a specified use threshold, presently set at 1000 DOI deposits per quarter.
Thoth Open Metadata may choose to invoice the Sponsored Member for any wire transfer fees or other ancillary costs incurred by Crossref that are associated with Thoth Open Metadata’s chosen payment methods.
From time to time, Crossref charges service fees for various optional services, if and to the extent elected by Thoth Open Metadata on behalf of the Sponsored Members it represents. If a Sponsored Member agrees to sign up to such Optional Services (e.g. Crossref Similarity Check), Thoth Open Metadata will invoice the Sponsored Member for any charges related to usage of such Optional Service.
Thoth Open Metadata may, in its discretion, defer providing services to Sponsored Members until payment of a Sponsored Member’s outstanding fees has been resolved, and to suspend providing services to Sponsored Members if any invoices are unpaid more than forty-five (45) days after receipt by Thoth Open Metadata.
Nonpayment of invoices is grounds for termination pursuant to the provisions of Section 11(b) below.
Sponsored Member agrees to Thoth Open Metadata using Sponsored Member’s name(s) and mark(s) to identify Sponsored Member’s status as a Crossref Member entity sponsored through Thoth Open Metadata. Sponsored Member may identify itself as a Crossref Member sponsored through Thoth Open Metadata, including by placing the Thoth Open Metadata and Crossref marks or Crossref badges on its website, by referencing the code provided on the Crossref and/or Thoth Open Metadata Websites and following the Crosssref branding guidelines as described at https://www.crossref.org/brand/. For the avoidance of doubt, in using the Crossref and/or Thoth Open Metadata mark or Crossref badges as permitted in the foregoing sentence, Sponsored Member must only reference the code provided on the Website and may not mutilate, modify, alter, or change the marks and badges in any way. Sponsored Member may also identify use of Crossref Identifiers and Metadata, for example within reference lists, using the label “Crossref.”
The Agreement shall continue until terminated in accordance with these terms and conditions.
The Sponsored Member may terminate the Agreement for any reason at any time by notifying Thoth Open Metadata that the Sponsored Member wishes to terminate the Agreement.
Thoth Open Metadata may terminate the Agreement if:
a. the Sponsored Member is found to be in breach of any of the terms of this agreement with one month’s notice
b. required to do so by Crossref, on the terms imposed by Crossref.
All parts of this agreement are governed by the Thoth Dissemination Terms and Conditions.