Re: Is ESA first?

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_coglit.ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 14:58:43 +0000

On Mon, 13 Mar 2000, Thomas J. Walker wrote:

> > >sh> The market can then decide whether authors think this is worth the
> > >sh> price -- as long as they are allowed the self-archiving option, hence
> > >sh> the choice...
>
> ESA requires authors to sign a copyright release that has
> no provision for self-archiving.
>
> members of all the remaining scientific societies that
> publish journals should see to it that their societies adopt these two
> policies:
>
> 1. Authors are specifically permitted to self-archive their own versions of
> the paper-archived version of their articles.
>
> 2. Authors are permitted to buy, at a fair price, immediate free Web access
> to their articles.
>
> The first is important because it will demonstrate that the society is not
> trying to control the distribution of content.
>
> The second is important because it offers a market-driven, nondisruptive
> transition to free Web access to all journal articles.

Thomas, maybe it's just me, but I still can't determine from the
above: Does or does not ESA allow author self-archiving (of their own
final, accepted draft), without having to pay ESA anything extra? If it
does, then this is a true, benign option, and the most progressive one
I've seen to date, completely in harmony with the mission of a learned
society and the possibilities opened up by the new medium.

Sorry to keep asking you to spell it out, but "no provision" still
sounds abmbiguous to me...

Stevan
Received on Mon Jan 24 2000 - 19:17:43 GMT