Elsevier's 50-day tease. From +Elsevier: "The new Share Link service...allows…

http://www.elsevier.com/connect/share-links-let-authors-share-their-new-publications-for-free

Comment. OA is better. It's not limited to 50 days. You can get OA by publishing your work in an OA journal ("gold OA") or by publishing in a non-OA journal, including an Elsevier journal, and depositing a copy of your peer-reviewed manuscript in an OA repository ("green OA"). If you haven't done this before, here's how.

http://bit.ly/how-oa 

Note one of Elsevier's arguments for its new offer: "Researchers who publish in academic journals understand the necessity to expose their papers to the widest audience possible." That's true. But it's an argument for real OA, not a 50-day tease. A more precise formulation makes Elsevier's true statement false: "Researchers who publish in academic journals understand the necessity to expose their papers to the widest audience possible for 50 days, and then keep them locked behind a paywall." 

Another Elsevier argument for the new offer: "The new Share Link service makes it easy for authors to share their articles so they can get more exposure and more citations." That's also true. But it's also an argument for real OA, not a 50-day tease. If you really want more exposure and citations, do you want to stop with a 50-day window onto a global audience, or do you want an ongoing global audience?

Elsevier is right that 50 days of free online access is better than no free online access. But watch it try to make that case without making the case for full-bore OA."