Anniversary of DC Principles

["\"FrederickFriend\"" <ucylfjf@ucl.ac.uk>]

As we approach the first anniversary of the DC Principles, it would be
good to hear from some of the Principles' authors about their experience
over the past year and their plans for the future. In particular it would
be good to know whether any of the societies signatory to the Principles
are considering lowering the barrier to free access from twelve to nine or
six months. The Statement one year ago claimed that "the full-text of our
journals is freely available to everyone world-wide either immediately or
within months of publication" but the perception is that in practice a
twelve-month embargo has been adopted by the societies as the norm. In a
statement to Dr Zerhouni last November, Marty Frank said that "over 80
publishers are considering accelerated access policies in the next twelve
months....This program is not static and will likely see further
reductions in access control periods in the future". It would be good to
know more about these reductions in access control periods.

Open access advocates are often accused of speaking without evidence, but
where is the evidence for a twelve-month embargo? There is no evidence to
suggest that a six or nine-month embargo is any more harmful to a learned
society publisher than a twelve-month embargo. In fact such experience as
there is suggests the reverse, that earlier free access has no effect upon
publisher income. The learned society publishers provide a valuable
service to the academic community, and nobody wishes them harm. In the UK
JISC is trying to provide practical support for learned society publishers
as they consider the changes affecting us all.The authors of the DC
Principles say that they "work in partnership with scholarly communities".
Please let us hear from them.

Fred Friend

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Frederick J. Friend
JISC Consultant
OSI Open Access Advocate
Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL
E-mail ucylfjf@ucl.ac.uk
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx