This very rapid reply to my withdrawal as a reviewer for NPG journals contains a response issued last night purporting to clarify issues obfuscated by the UC Digital Library in their letter. They claim that the data cited by the UCDL are misleading. I can neither verify or refute this claim. What does appear to be the case is that the UCDL letter was a pre-emptive move. In my opinion such pre-emptive moves are the only effective way to stay in the battle against publishing behemoths.
I urge everybody to follow the development of this chapter in the continuing evolution of the crisis in scientific publishing. I also highly recommend to others the two sites referred to by Tim Fenn earlier today: http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/06/09/213256/Univ-of-California-Faculty-May-Boycott-Nature-Publisher http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/news03.html The latter letter from Don Knuth is seven years old, but has lost none of its insight and timeliness. It ignores the serious impact of the law requiring NIH funded authors to submit their published manuscripts to PubMed Central, as it predated the introduction of the Cornyn-Lieberman legislation that led to the PMC mandate. I am a rather late comer to these issues, which have been brewing far longer than I have been following them. Wider sensitivity to these issues on everyone's part is to our common benefit. Despite the press release from NPG there is no contract yet with UCDL. My feeling is that pressure should continue to be exerted, and urge folks to consider actions similar to mine. Authors, as a group are in the unenviable position of having the fewest resources, the most to lose, and the least coherence. Nonetheless, the power we can potentially bring to bear is not insignificant. Charlie Begin forwarded message: > From: "Heinrichs, Arianne" <a.heinri...@nature.com> > Date: June 10, 2010 7:35:06 AM EDT > To: car...@med.unc.edu > Cc: "David, Rachel" <r.da...@nature.com> > Subject: RE: Referee report for Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology almost > due > > > dear Dr Carter, > > I was sorry to learn that you decided to withdraw as a referee for Nature > Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. While we respect your decision of course, I > would like to refer you to a press release that Nature Publishing Group has > issued in response to the California Digital Library letter to the UC > Divisional Chairs and Members of the UC Faculty. This was issued late last > night to media who had requested it, and is now on nature.com: > www.nature.com/press_releases/cdl.html > > We believe that the situation was not described fairly by CDL, and Nature > Publishing Group will do all it can to bring this situation to a successful > conclusion as soon as possible. > > yours sincerely, > Arianne Heinrichs > > Arianne Heinrichs, PhD > chief editor Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Charles W. Carter, Jr [mailto:car...@med.unc.edu] > Sent: 09 June 2010 13:58 > To: David, Rachel > Subject: Re: Referee report for Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology almost > due > > Rachel, > > I have just learned of an effort by Nature Publishing Group to increase > subscriptions to Nature Journals four-fold to the University of California > library systems. This is unconscionable. > > The UC library system has suggested that all UC faculty cease to peer review > documents for Nature publishing group journals. I have decided to join this > boycott, because I strongly believe that the Nature action cannot be left > unchallenged. > > Please take me off your list of reviewers. This refusal to review is also > retrospective. I will therefore not be sending you my review of the > manuscript by Schimmel. > > I hope that you will relay this action to your superiors. > > Charlie Carter > > On Jun 8, 2010, at 11:43 AM, David, Rachel wrote: > > > Great, thank you very much for letting me know. > > > > Best wishes, > > Rachel > > > > Rachel David PhD > > Assistant editor > > Nature Reviews Microbiology > > Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology > > 4 Crinan Street > > London N1 9XW > > tel. +44 (0) 2078433662 > > e-mail r.da...@nature.com > > > > Follow NRMicro on Twitter https://twitter.com/NatureRevMicro > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Charles W. Carter, Jr [mailto:car...@med.unc.edu] > > Sent: 08 June 2010 16:43 > > To: David, Rachel > > Subject: Re: Referee report for Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology > > almost due > > > > Rachel, > > > > I've read the ms and thought a bit about the review. I should have a > > review for you soon. > > > > Charlie > > > > On Jun 8, 2010, at 11:33 AM, r.da...@nature.com wrote: > > > >> > >> Dear Dr Carter, > >> > >> This is a reminder from Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology that > > your referee report of "Novel Domains in Higher Eukaryote tRNA > > Synthetases as Markers for Eukaryote Evolution and Functions beyond > > Translation" by Paul Schimmel, Min Guo, and Xiang-Lei Yang > > (NRM-10-039V3) is due tomorrow. Thanks again for agreeing to provide a > > referee report on this manuscript. > >> > >> To view the manuscript and prepare your report, click on the following > > link: > >> > >> > > <http://mts-nrm.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex?el=A2a2FjS6C2LNz5F2A9wsoGVj > > KCDQ3Hs91EYF2EyAZ> > >> > >> > >> > >> Please let me know as soon as possible if you will not be able to meet > > the proposed due date (via reply e-mail.) > >> > >> best wishes, > >> Rachel > >> > >> Rachel David PhD > >> Assistant editor > >> Nature Reviews Microbiology and > >> Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology > >> 4 Crinan Street > >> London N1 9XW > >> tel. +44 (0) 2078433662 > >> e-mail r.da...@nature.com > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> This email has been sent through the NPG Manuscript Tracking System > > NY-610A-NPG&MTS > > > > > > > > ******************************************************************************** > > > > DISCLAIMER: This e-mail is confidential and should not be used by anyone > > who is > > not the original intended recipient. 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