Open Access News

Authors’ rights: in 2003 83 per cent of publishers required authors to transfer copyright in their articles to the publisher. This figure is now 61 per cent, with 21 per cent initially requesting copyright transfer but accepting a licence to publish should this be declined. In respect of the rights of authors to use their own work, the following pattern emerges:

• Over 90 per cent of large publishers allow articles to be posted prior to peer review and publication; only just over 30 per cent of small publishers do so.
• Large publishers are more likely to allow articles to be posted after acceptance than small publishers: 90 per cent vs. 40 per cent. Commercial publishers are more likely to accept the practice than not-for profit publishers.
• 75 per cent of large publishers, but just under 50 per cent of small publishers, allow authors to post published articles websites or institutional repositories. A significant number require the author to post a PDF of the publisher’s version.
• Publishers are more inclined to allow posting published articles to the author’s own website than to an institutional repository; subject-based repositories are the least popular.
• One-third of large, 20 per cent of medium-sized and 16 per cent of small publishers apply an embargo to such posting until a specified period after publication has elapsed.
• 52 per cent of publishers require links from the posted version to the publisher’s version on its site; 21 per cent provide toll-free access when such links are used.
• Few publishers disallow the reuse of authors’ material within the academic institution or in the author’s own publications, subject to proper acknowledgement of the journal and publisher.

Conclusion: The market for online journals is still in a process of development and experiment; it is only ten years old. Publishers are still grappling with the implications of migrating from a print to an online publishing environment. For the foreseeable future, publishers’ journals will be available in both modes. Nevertheless, there are some important indicators:

• 90 per cent of journals are now available online, compared with 75 per cent in 2003.
• Although online pricing is still largely tied to the print price, but new pricing models linked to institutional classification, size or usage are emerging.
• Publishers are offering options such as pay-per-view or subject bundles, and more functionality such as reference linking. Smaller publishers are participating via their online journal hosting services and by contributing journals to multi-publisher bundles that provide reference linking and pay-per-view facilities.
• A fifth of publishers are experimenting with open access journals in some form.
• Access to journal back volumes is becoming an integral part of the online product.
• All categories of publishers are now extending usage rights in order to be more ‘library friendly’.
• Although the majority of publishers still require journal authors to assign copyright, the proportion willing to accept a licence to publish has grown significantly in the past two years. Moreover, generally the author is not generally restricted from using the work for personal or institutional purposes.