Elsevier’s new “open access” terms: so near, yet so far « Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week #AcademicSpring

abernard102@gmail.com 2012-11-24

Summary:

" ... I hope no-one will feel it’s unreasonable for me to comment on Elsevier’s new “Open Access Articles” page. Let’s quote this (short) page in full, so we’ll still have the current version to hand if it changes tomorrow ... The point is, this falls short of the original meaning of 'open access', and makes Elsevier’s 'open access'  journals unacceptable venues for work funded by RCUK and other bodies.  The very clear statement 'will remain permanently free for the public to read and download' is laudable, but that 'unrestricted access' part at the start is quickly undermined when we reach the detail: 'For commercial use or systemic distribution, you must still request permission'. This is a non-commercial clause, making Elsevier’s terms roughly congruent with the CC BY-NC licence — whereas RCUK funding requires the less restrictive CC BY, which allows use of articles in commercial contexts.  But in fact it’s worse than CC BY-NC, because of that 'systemic distribution' clause. Let’s leave aside the fact that Elsevier don’t seem to know what “systemic” means, and assume that they meant 'systematic'. What can they mean by prohibiting systematic distribution? Well, for one thing, it means the 'open access' articles can’t be mirrored in another archive. They can’t be conveniently torrented. You may or may not be allowed to distribute them on USB sticks at conferences — who can tell what counts as 'systematic'? You may or may not be allowed to make a better search engine for them that what Elsevier provide.  The reason this is all so frustrating is that it’s so close to being The Right Thing. My sense is that Elsevier really is making an effort to change, and that particular people within Elsevier are pushing for it to be done right. These 'open access' terms a are good thing. The very fact that Elsevier is using the term 'open access' is an important step forward. But it would have been so easy to go one or two steps further and make them right..."

Link:

http://svpow.com/2012/11/21/elseviers-new-open-access-terms-so-near-yet-so-far/

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.business_models oa.publishers oa.policies oa.licensing oa.comment oa.elsevier oa.copyright oa.cc oa.funders oa.rcuk oa.libre

Date tagged:

11/24/2012, 17:22

Date published:

11/24/2012, 12:22