The July 8 issue of Library Journal Academic Newswire covers Springer's Open Choice program and Oxford's launch of the OA Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM). LJ Academic Newswire is not OA, but free excerpts from the July 8 issue have been posted to various lists. On the Springer program, Newswire quotes BMC publisher Jan Velterop: "True open access, Velterop says, implies by definition 'that all use is fair use as long as the author and article are properly cited.' Springer's program breaks from that definition is some key ways. First, a strict copyright policy remains in effect for Open Choice authors. While Springer will make those articles available to users for free, the company continues to require 'standard consent-to-publish and transfer-of-copyright agreements' from authors, which it says is necessary to protect authors' rights. It also forbids 'copying, reproducing, distributing, or posting of the publisher's version of the article on a third party server.' Velterop also points out that Open Choice articles have made no commitment to be archived in an open access repository, such as PubMed Central. That, he notes, makes guaranteeing open access in perpetuity 'virtually impossible.' "
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/09/2004 01:07:00 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.
