Thanks to Elsevier, but...
What about some special data included into the papers ? For instance,
atomic coordinates of crystal structures are traditionnally copied in papers
by monopolistic commercial databases (CSD, ICSD, CRYSTMET), and not
put in open access at all (exception for the PDB - Protein Database -
and AMCSD - minerals -and NDB - nucleic acids). This concerns
the final coordinates possibly modified after the reviewing process.
To my knowledge, the database institutions do not pay a cent
to the journals (even, they pretend to a copyright on the data).
Are the authors allowed by Elsevier to upload their data (CIF files)
into an open access database like the COD (
http://www.crystallography.net/)?
We would like to see crystallographers deposit CIFs with the COD prior
to publication, with the understanding that this disclosure should not
be considered "prior publication" when a paper is prepared for journal
publication.
Armel Le Bail
Universite du Maine
France
Received on Fri May 28 2004 - 07:42:02 BST