On Monday I posted a note about the journal scanning project at PubMed Central. While the participating journals would be freely accessible online --a huge step--, most would not permit more than fair use of their contents. On Monday I wondered whether I was reading the licensing terms correctly and said I would seek clarification. I've since written to PMC and received a good reply from Ed Sequeira, who has let me post it to the forum. On the main question, the answer is that most participating journals are not waiving any rights or permitting any uses not already permitted as fair use under copyright law. But the good news is that the scanning project will expand over time and include more journals, and that all PMC content will soon have an OAI-compliant interface, in which the open-access content can be distinguished from the rest.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/09/2003 11:36:00 AM.
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.
