[InetBib] Global coalition of organizations denounce Elsevier's new "sharing" policy

["Gottschling, Maxie" <gottschling@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

*** Apologies for cross-posting***


For Immediate Release                          Contact:               Ranit 
Schmelzer (SPARC)
Wednesday, May 20, 2015                                                
202-538-1065
                                                                                
         sparcmedia@xxxxxxx<mailto:sparcmedia@xxxxxxx>

                                                                                
         Katharina Müller (COAR)
                                                                                
         49 551 39-22215
                                                                                
         office@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:office@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>



NEW POLICY FROM ELSEVIER IMPEDES OPEN ACCESS AND SHARING

Global coalition of organizations denounce the policy and urge Elsevier to 
revise it

Washington, DC and Göttingen, Germany – Elsevier’s new sharing and hosting 
policy<http://www.elsevier.com/connect/elsevier-updates-its-policies-perspectives-and-services-on-article-sharing>
 represents a significant obstacle to the dissemination and use of research 
knowledge, and creates unnecessary barriers for Elsevier published authors in 
complying with funders’ open access policies, according to an analysis by the 
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and the 
Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR).

“Elsevier’s policy is in direct conflict with the global trend towards open 
access and serves only to dilute the benefits of openly sharing research 
results,” said Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC and Kathleen 
Shearer, Executive Director of COAR, in a joint statement. “Elsevier claims 
that the policy advances sharing but in fact, it does the opposite. We strongly 
urge Elsevier to revise it.”

The new stance marks a significant departure from Elsevier’s initial policy, 
established in 2004, which allowed authors to self-archive their final accepted 
manuscripts of peer-reviewed articles in institutional repositories without 
delay.  While the stated purpose of the new revision is, in part, to roll back 
an ill-conceived 2012 amendment prohibiting authors at institutions that have 
adopted campus-wide Open Access policies from immediate self archiving, the net 
result of the new policy is that Elsevier has placed greater restrictions on 
sharing articles.

Twenty-three groups today released the following statement in opposition to the 
policy:

“On April 30, 2015, Elsevier announced a new sharing and hosting policy for 
Elsevier journal articles. This policy represents a significant obstacle to the 
dissemination and use of research knowledge, and creates unnecessary barriers 
for Elsevier published authors in complying with funders’ open access policies. 
In addition, the policy has been adopted without any evidence that immediate 
sharing of articles has a negative impact on publishers’ subscriptions.

“Despite the claim by Elsevier that the policy advances sharing, it actually 
does the opposite. The policy imposes unacceptably long embargo periods of up 
to 48 months for some journals. It also requires authors to apply a 
"non-commercial and no derivative works" license for each article deposited 
into a repository, greatly inhibiting the re-use value of these articles. Any 
delay in the open availability of research articles curtails scientific 
progress and places unnecessary constraints on delivering the benefits of 
research back to the public.

“Furthermore, the policy applies to "all articles previously published and 
those published in the future" making it even more punitive for both authors 
and institutions. This may also lead to articles that are currently available 
being suddenly embargoed and inaccessible to readers.

“As organizations committed to the principle that access to information 
advances discovery, accelerates innovation and improves education, we support 
the adoption of policies and practices that enable the immediate, barrier free 
access to and reuse of scholarly articles. This policy is in direct conflict 
with the global trend towards open access and serves only to dilute the 
benefits of openly sharing research results.

“We strongly urge Elsevier to reconsider this policy and we encourage other 
organizations and individuals to express their opinions.” The statement is 
available 
here<https://www.coar-repositories.org/activities/advocacy-leadership/petition-against-elseviers-sharing-policy/>
 and we welcome others to show their support by also endorsing it.

The statement has been signed by the following groups:
COAR: Confederation of Open Access Repositories
SPARC: Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
ACRL: Association of College and Research Libraries
ALA: American Library Association
ARL: Association of Research Libraries
Association of Southeastern Research Libraries
Australian Open Access Support Group
IBICT: Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology
CARL: Canadian Association of Research Libraries
CLACSO: Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales
COAPI: Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (USA)
EIFL
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Greater Western Library Alliance
LIBER: European Research Library Association
National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences
OpenAIRE
Open Data Hong Kong
Research Libraries UK
SANLiC: South African National Licensing Consortium
University of St Andrews Library



SPARC®, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, is an 
international alliance of academic and research libraries working to correct 
imbalances in the scholarly publishing system. Developed by the Association of 
Research Libraries, SPARC has become a catalyst for change. Its pragmatic focus 
is to stimulate the emergence of new scholarly communication models that expand 
the dissemination of scholarly research and reduce financial pressures on 
libraries. More information can be found at 
http://www.sparc.arl.org<http://www.sparc.arl.org/>.

COAR, the Confederation of Open Access Repositories, is an international 
association with over 100 members and partners from five continents 
representing universities, research institutions, government research funders, 
and others. COAR’s mission is to enhance the visibility and application of 
research outputs through a global network of Open Access digital repositories. 
COAR brings together the major repository initiatives in order to align 
policies and practices and acts as a global voice for the repository community.



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