Removal of articles from ScienceDirect

["Menefee, Daviess (ELS)" <D.Menefee@elsevier.com>]

Cross-posted at the request of the moderator.  Please forgive any
duplication.

Dear Readers of this List,

Several concerns have been raised recently on this [reedelsevier from U of
Texas] listserve regarding the removal of articles from ScienceDirect
after they have appeared in electronic format.  These concerns arise in
the course of debate over digital archiving and what will be in the
archive in the future.

To try to address some of these concerns, Elsevier Science has recently
established a formal procedure for the removal of articles.  To that end
there is now in place a strict internal policy of review before any
article is removed and that review must include senior publishing
management and the legal department. Only under extraordinary
circumstances can an article be removed (e.g., plagiarism, scientific
misconduct, gross error such that human safety is at risk) and then a
statement is inserted to indicate the removal.

For the sake of complete digital archiving, Elsevier Science has included
ALL of its electronically published articles in its recent agreement with
the Royal Dutch Library (Koninklijke Bibliotheek).  As libraries'
expectations have risen with respect to digital archiving, Elsevier has
put in place processes and procedures to meet those expectations.

With kind regards,
Daviess Menefee
Library Relations