Terms and conditions of use for Nomos eLibrary

These terms and conditions govern the rights and obligations of customers and users of Nomos eLibrary and of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG (henceforth referred to as ‘the publisher’).

The publisher grants the customer and the user, respectively, the non-exclusive and non-transferable right to use content on its platform Nomos eLibrary under the following conditions.

1. Free rights of use

1.1 User interface

Access to the research tools of the eLibrary is free of charge to everyone. Users have the right to:

use all research tools on the platform;
read and print out content that is available for free;
register themselves as users and then send out information about content on the platform by means of the webmail functionality. The webmail feature must not be used to send out mass e-mails. It must not be used to send out e-mails that do not refer to any specific content on this platform, either.

1.2 Open access publications

Some content on Nomos eLibrary is accessible free of charge in full text. As long as nothing else is stated in the bibliographic notes, the CreativeCommons Licence BY-NC-ND 3.0 applies to this content, i.e. it may be downloaded, filed and printed.

If such content is forwarded to anyone, it must include a full citation and particularly include the following information:

names of all authors;
the publication of record;
book title or journal title;
the ‘DOI-link’ by which the contribution can be cited and looked up on the internet permanently. (The DOI link is a permanent link available for every publication. It has the format of i.e. http://dx.doi.org/10.17104/0017-1417_2015_1_31.)

When applying the CreativeCommons Licence BY-NC-ND 3.0, an open access publication must not be printed or republished for commercial purposes without the publisher’s written agreement. Open access content must not be altered in any way.

2. Rights of use for individual and institutional customers

2.1 General provisions

The sales model (purchase model) includes the warranty of unlimited endurance of the right of use and of online access to the publisher’s platform. The publisher reserves the right to withdraw single products or contents, especially when the publisher does not own the relevant rights anymore or when there is reasonable suspicion that single products or contents violate third-party rights or are otherwise unlawful. The publisher also reserves the right to republish titles as open access publications at a later date and, thereby, to also alter the single prices of the products included in a package.

2.2 Rights of individual customers (private customers)

The publisher offers individual customers to purchase the right of use for particular parts of the eLibrary.

Individual subscribers (electronic access to journals) and customers (electronic access to books) are entitled to:

read purchased content on the screen;
download single chapters and articles into the internal memory;
file single chapters and articles permanently – to an extent congruent with individual academic work;
print out single chapters and articles – to an extent congruent with individual academic work.

These rights belong exclusively to the respective individual customer and are not transferable.

2.3 Rights of institutional customers

Institutional subscribers and customers are entitled to provide access to the licenced publications for their respective users. This authorisation usually applies to one location. If users shall be granted access from several locations, these additional locations must be explicitly confirmed by the publisher. Authorised users are:

members of the purchasing institution, university or library;
any visitors of the library premises during their stay.

Alumni, i.e. previous students, or previous faculty members are not automatically authorised users of an institution. If, as an exception, alumni shall be granted access as well, an individual agreement can be made with the publisher. Please contact the publisher.

The right of use of the licenced content entitles authorised users to:

read the content on the screen;
download single chapters and articles into the internal memory;
file single chapters and articles permanently – to an extent congruent with individual academic work;
print out single chapters and articles – to an extent congruent with individual academic work;
make single chapters and articles publicly available in the sense of §§ 52a German Copyright Law (UrhG) for teaching and research (‘online key texts’); yet, this happens without prejudice to possible duties to register these uses at VG Wort (a body for enforcing performing and artistic rights) and to pay for them;
to make single chapters and articles available at public reading rooms in the sense of §§ 52b German Copyright Law (UrhG).

The publisher commits itself not to use digital rights management, i.e. not to limit or impede reading, downloading, filing or printing with technical provisions. Exception: a digital watermark indicating the institution providing access to the content or an IP address.

Concurrent usage of the same items by different users of the same institution is possible without limitation.

The legal rights of the customer and the authorised users according to the limiting provisions of Section 6 of the German Copyright Law (UrhG) – and the right of citation in particular – remain inviolate and shall not be limited in any way.

2.4 Administrative rights for institutional customers

Institutional customers appoint one or more administrators who the publisher grants extended rights. Administrators can download free usage statistics and catalogue data and edit several settings that modify the display of Nomos eLibrary within their institution. The publisher can alter the extent of the administrator rights at any time and at its own discretion; yet, in the case of a limitation of the administrator rights this is possible only after having granted institutional customers an opportunity to make reservations within a reasonable period of time. Institutional customers can import all catalogue data available on the platform into their own catalogues as well as in catalogues of associated institutions (i.e. library associations).

3. Authentication

The publisher registers individual and institutional customers in a database in order to provide them access to the platform. Users are authenticated by the following technical means:

Individual customers are authenticated via username and password.
Institutions and the circle of authorised users associated with them are authenticated via recorded IP addresses.
Institutions may additionally grant their members remote access to the platform, i.e. via VPN (virtual private network), via EZproxy or via Shibboleth.

4. Integrity of publications on Nomos eLibrary

All publications are protected by German copyright law. Any change of the content is prohibited except when explicitly permitted according to § 62 of German copyright law. In particular, it is not allowed to delete, change or suppress the following information:

author and editor names;
copyright notices included in the offer;
logos, brands or other means of identification;
legal disclaimers or reservations.

5. Licensing Terms for Bibliographic Metadata of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft

The bibliographic metadata of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft is made available free of charge for free use under a Creative Commons Zero licence (CC0 1.0 Universal). (See here Creative Commons — CC0 1.0 Universal for more information on Creative Commons). The bibliographic metadata can be obtained through various channels in different formats (including ONIX, MARC21 and KBART). By making the metadata freely available for unrestricted re-use, Nomos supports the idea of a freely accessible "Web of Data". This also contributes to the worldwide visibility of our peer reviewed academic content. Our library partners, particularly, benefit from this, as they can import the metadata into their catalogues in a legally secure manner, enrich it and in turn make it available to other applications. If, in exceptional cases, a metadata record is not in the public domain, this is specially marked.

6. Unauthorised use of content

The dissemination of the content in printed or electronic format – either offline or online – is not permitted.

The only exception from this rule applies to open access publications as defined in section 1.2 above.

On no account is it permitted – not for open access publications, either – to disseminate copies of the content with commercial interests or implications.

7. Prohibition of systematic downloads

The repeated and systematic download of significant parts of Nomos eLibrary is not permitted. In particular, it is not allowed to establish an archive of the platform content in order to access the content outside Nomos eLibrary.

In case of a specific research project that requires a systematic search of Nomos eLibrary, the publisher will usually permit this and support the researchers. Please contact the publisher in writing.

8. Long term preservation

8.1 Perpetual usage rights

The sales model (purchase model) includes perpetual access rights and perpetual online access to the content via Nomos eLibrary.

Moreover, the publisher grants the delivery of the data in case the availability of the data via Nomos eLibrary no longer exists or in case the publisher no longer offers the content on its platform.

8.2 Dark archive

Institutional customers may request to establish a ‘dark archive’ in spite of a regular online operation of the platform. Such a dark archive solely functions as an alternative access option to the acquired content in case the publisher is permanently unable to provide this content via Nomos eLibrary. Access to the dark archive during normal eLibrary performance is not allowed.

9. Interlibrary loan

Institutional customers may pass on to end-users single licenced journal articles as well as small single parts of licenced monographs through interlibrary loan, provided that the respective document is sent to the receiving library through a system (such as ‘Ariel’) that ensures that the respective document can be printed by the end-user only once and that it cannot be used in any other way, either. Alternatively, a paper copy can be provided. In any case, interlibrary loan is permitted only for the personal use of the end-user or for scientific, educational or research purposes. It is not permitted for commercial uses or for other uses that are prohibited according to these terms and conditions.

10. Obligation to inform library users

Institutional customers are obliged to inform their users about these terms and conditions of use.

11. Accuracy of authentication details

The customer is obliged to keep up to date and accurate all pieces of information required for the full execution of these terms, such as IP addresses, e-mail addresses and, if applicable, invoicing addresses, or to inform the publisher about any changes immediately and unsolicitedly. If the customer does not meet this obligation – especially with regard to authentication details – the publisher may block the customer’s access to the eLibrary.

12. Securing login data and passwords

The customer will treat login data and passwords as confidential and adopt reasonable technical measures to protect the content from unauthorised access by third parties. In case login data or passwords are lost or misuse of login data is detected, the publisher must be informed without delay. In this case, the publisher retains the right to suspend access until new login details have been issued.

13. Technical requirements

13.1 Bandwidth

Access to Nomos eLibrary is provided through the internet. For the provision of the licenced subject matter, the publisher uses computers, servers and lines with appropriate capacity and bandwidth. A responsibility for the deployment and the transfer of data exceeding the publisher’s own technical infrastructure does not exist. In particular, the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the technical equipment of the lines into customer premises, for technical failures due to force majeure and for the computer equipment at customer premises.

Necessary maintenance is conducted during off-peak times whenever possible. The publisher does not guarantee an interruption-free availability of access to Nomos eLibrary. If the availability does not fall below 95% of the monthly time average, temporary failures or disturbances in availability do not constitute inadequate performance.

13.2 Software required

The use of Nomos eLibrary and its contents requires standard web browser software and a PDF reader. This software is not included in the licence.

14. Data protection

In order be able to fulfil its contractual obligations, it is necessary for the publisher to store a limited amount of personal data in a machine-parsable format. This concerns:

first name,
last name,
e-mail address,
location,
username,
password as well as
IP addresses if required for authentication (see Section 3 above)

All personal data are treated with strict confidentiality and are only passed on to third parties if and when the publisher is forced to do so by law and/or by a court decision or is in individual cases entitled to do so within the tight limits set by the German Federal Data Protection Act.

15. Applicable law and protective clause

Additionally, the law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies to the contractual relationship under exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the German international private law. Place of jurisdiction is Baden-Baden, Germany, insofar as the customer is not a consumer. The invalidity of individual provisions of these general terms and conditions of contract shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions.