Sophie Rovner, ACS Ends Limited Publishing Moratorium, Chemical and Engineering News 82(8), 6 (February 23, 2004). A news article reports that the American Chemical Society will again accept articles from scholars in nations with whom the United States holds a trade embargo. See ( Peter Suber's earlier posting for related articles on the ACS and scholarly publishing embargoes). This follows a meeting between several societies and publishers and officials with the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Robert D. Bovenschulte, president of ACS' publications division, indicated that the society would continue to seek changes in the OFAC ruling and consider legal options.
Also: Society lifts publishing ban on nations facing U.S. sanctions, Nature 427, 770 (26 February 2004). (Access restricted to subscribers.) A news brief from Nature reported on these developments and quoted an Iranian scientist as saying: "I think Iranian chemists will be happy to see that these restrictions have been removed."
Both pieces gave a passing mention of the view that the embargo infringes first amendment rights, which C&EN notes has been argued in a brief by the Association of American Publishers.
Posted by
Garrett at 2/25/2004 04:13:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
