Traditional academic publishers are 'on the move', new report suggests
SURFfoundation have released the results of an inquiry into the copyright policies of traditional academic publishers. A group of forty seven traditional publishers, who do not currently allow Open Access, were assessed and it was found that these publishers are increasingly interested in allowing the depositing of articles into a publicly accessible repository.
The study asked publishers if they supported principles formulated by SURFfoundation and Jisc and SURF have attempted to bridge the gap between traditional publishers and the Open Access movement.Jisc, regarding publishing in traditional journals. The conclusion was that a growing number of traditional publishers support some, if not all, of the current open access repository principles. Furthermore, many of these publishers were said to be looking into changing their current policies to encourage an environment of sharing academic materials.
These principles attempt to clarify and balance the relationship between the rights of authors and publishers, to enable a wider access to scholarly literature, which in turn would make journals compliant with a growing number of funder requirements.
The main characteristics of the principles are that authors retains copyright of their work, while granting the publisher the required rights to publish the work, and that authors are entitled to freely deposit their work in a research repository with an embargo before public release, for a maximum of six months.
One third of the publishers in the study have developed a repository policy which is compatible with these principles and, the study reports, a similar proportion of publishers currently use a licence to publish instead of copyright transfer.
A number of organisations, such as the Wellcome Trust and the European Research Council, require peer-reviewed publications to be deposited in an appropriate research repository in conjunction with being made available via Open Access channels within 6 months of publication. In December 2007, the ERC Scientific Council issued guidelines for Open Access , which stated that free and efficient access to vast and increasing quantities of information was the key for sustained progress.
In addition to having drafted the principles, Jisc and the SURFfoundation have also created a model Licence to Publish, in order to help traditional publishers of journals and authors move toward open access. However, the SURF-Jisc Licence to Publish is not the only model that addresses these principles. The Licence to Publish was designed to serve as an example for traditional publishers who do not yet provide open access, while also functioning as a tool for authors who want to retain their copyright.
Wim Liebrand, Director of SURFfoundation believes: 'This is a promising development. With the balanced approach Jisc and SURF started, we attempted to bridge the gap between the traditional publishers and the Open Access movement. We hope many publishers will follow. We invite them to support the Licence to Publish and its Principles'.
For access to the full Licence to Publish Report