Richard Jorgensen, Natasha Raikhel, and Donald Ort, ASPB's Response to NIH's Public Access Policy, The Plant Cell, June 2005. An editorial. Excerpt: 'Even though compliance is not mandatory, ASPB [American Society of Plant Biologists] recognizes that some of our authors may choose to comply and wants to accommodate them in a manner that does not jeopardize ASPB's legitimate interests and long-standing practices. Therefore, both journals' copyright statements have been amended for articles accepted as of May 2, 2005 to include the following statement: "[Plant Physiology / The Plant Cell] allows authors whose research was funded in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health to deposit their peer-reviewed, accepted manuscript to NIH for release in PubMed Central 12 months after the date of final publication by the journal."...Please note that ASPB requires that authors submit the identical version of the article that was accepted for publication. This version will be different from the final, copyedited article that ASPB will publish, so the journals will provide authors with language to append to their manuscript to indicate that it has not been copyedited and may therefore differ in important ways from the authoritative version of the article published in Plant Physiology or The Plant Cell. NIH would prefer that the published article eventually replace the author's accepted manuscript, provided that the publisher concurs. ASPB has for 5 years been depositing final published articles in PubMed Central for release after 12 months, and we will continue to do so....ASPB fully recognizes the value to the scientific community of making the journals' research content freely accessible as soon as possible. On the other hand, the full cost to publish an article in Plant Physiology Online averages about $2500, and in The Plant Cell Online $3500. To try to find some middle ground, we will be launching in the next couple of months an Open Access "experiment" whereby any author who desires to have a research article that he or she has authored made free from the moment of its publication can do so for a modest surcharge of $1000 --and just $500 if the author works at an institution with a subscription to the ASPB journals. Authors who elect this Open Access option can instruct NIH to release the peer-reviewed manuscript as soon as the published article appears on the journal site.'
(PS: I commend the ASPB for its forthcoming OA experiment. However, its policy on NIH-funded authors is heel-dragging. The NIH policy "strongly encourages" public access "as soon as possible" after publication. The NIH believes that publisher-imposed embargoes violate the authors' "right to see the results of their work disseminated as quickly and broadly as possible" and has made clear that "only in limited cases will authors [or publishers] deem it necessary to select the longest delay period." For more on the NIH standard of compliance and more publisher policies on NIH-funded authors, see my article from last week's SOAN.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/05/2005 02:29:00 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.
