At 02:58 PM 3/13/00 +0000, you wrote: >On Mon, 13 Mar 2000, Thomas J. Walker wrote: > >> > >sh> The market can then decide whether authors think this is worth the >> > >sh> price -- as long as they are allowed the self-archiving option, hence >> > >sh> the choice... >> >> ESA requires authors to sign a copyright release that has >> no provision for self-archiving. >> >> members of all the remaining scientific societies that >> publish journals should see to it that their societies adopt these two >> policies: >> >> 1. Authors are specifically permitted to self-archive their own versions of >> the paper-archived version of their articles. >> >> 2. Authors are permitted to buy, at a fair price, immediate free Web access >> to their articles. >> >> The first is important because it will demonstrate that the society is not >> trying to control the distribution of content. >> >> The second is important because it offers a market-driven, nondisruptive >> transition to free Web access to all journal articles. > >Thomas, maybe it's just me, but I still can't determine from the >above: Does or does not ESA allow author self-archiving (of their own >final, accepted draft), without having to pay ESA anything extra? If it >does, then this is a true, benign option, and the most progressive one >I've seen to date, completely in harmony with the mission of a learned >society and the possibilities opened up by the new medium. > >Sorry to keep asking you to spell it out, but "no provision" still >sounds abmbiguous to me... >
To spell it out, ESA requires its authors to sign away _all_ their rights to their articles. It _should_ do what APS has done and specifically permit self-archiving of the content of the refereed version. In ESA's defense, I am sure ESA's GB would never authorize taking action against an author who self-archived content. In fact I was told that in a straw vote in June 1999, ESA's GB voted unanimously that ESA could not expect to continue to make money selling content. [This vote was not recorded in the minutes.] [Could you be confusing ESA with the Florida Entomological Society, which I told you earlier does not require authors to transfer copyright?] Tom Walker ========================================================================= Thomas J. Walker Department of Entomology & Nematology University of Florida, PO Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620 E-mail: t...@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu FAX: (352)392-0190 Web: http://csssrvr.entnem.ufl.edu/~walker/tjwbib/walker.htm =========================================================================