I have read that if I publish with a “green” publisher or use one of the author’s addenda, my articles can be preserved in an open access digital repository. Is this true?
The short answer: probably not....
Given that it would appear that more and more funded research is going to find its way into open access digital repositories, an obvious question is whether libraries can rely on those repositories to preserve that information. Unfortunately, they cannot, for at least two reasons.
First, as has long been recognized, open “archives” are primarily concerned with providing open access to current information – and not the long-term preservation of the contents. Most lack the technical, organizational, and financial support required for a true digital preservation program. In its draft position statement on access to research outputs, Research Councils UK noted the distinction....
Second, and more troubling, is that the agreements that make it possible for authors to deposit articles in an open access repository do not necessarily also convey the rights needed by the repository to preserve and make available digital information over time....
[T]he self-archiver must have the right to authorize DSpace (or other repositories) to make copies and reformat submissions. Prior to submission to a journal, an author would have that right. When copyright is transferred to a publisher, the publisher must then authorize the author/self-archiver to grant those rights. Yet in the typical copyright transfer agreement of even a “green” publisher, the explicit right to license preservation activities to DSpace is sorely lacking....
Are authors who attach an author’s addendum to their copyright transfer agreement any better able to grant the needed permissions to the repository? In some cases, the answer is yes....
Open access archives can be a valuable tool in making information immediately available. With time, the license terms that permit self-archiving may mature to explicitly permit digital preservation of the files as well as third party use of the archived material (the other great lacuna in the current agreements). For now, however, libraries will need to rely on the published journal literature for the long-term preservation of scholarly information. And, as library directors concluded in our recent report, E-Journal Archiving Metes and Bounds: A Survey of the Landscape, only journals that are part of formal third party journal archiving programs can be said to be effectively preserved. In sum, libraries cannot yet rely upon open archives for long-term access to the journal literature.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/21/2007 12:41:00 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.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
