Month: July 2008

Latest APA Deposit Policy Allows Authors to Self-Archive Articles in Institutional Repositories and on Personal Web Sites

The latest revision of the American Psychological Association's "Document Deposit Policy and Procedures for APA Journals" permits authors to self-archive final peer-reviewed copies of NIH-funded articles in institutional repositories and on personal Web sites.

Here's an excerpt from the policy:

Authors of manuscripts to be published in APA journals may post a copy of the final peer-reviewed manuscript, as a word processing, PDF, or other type file, on their personal Web site or on their employer's server after the manuscript is accepted for publication. The following conditions would prevail: The posted article must carry an APA copyright notice and include a link to the APA journal home page, and the posted article must include the following statement: "This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.” APA does not provide electronic copies of the APA published version for this purpose, and authors are not permitted to scan in the APA published version.

The revised policy also indicates that the final published article may be deposited by the APA in PubMed Central if required by a funding agency other than the NIH (for NIH-funded research "the final 'Word' version of the author-generated manuscript with all changes based on peer-review editorial feedback and found acceptable by the editor" will be deposited by the APA without charging the author's institution).

Peter Suber has commented on this revised policy in his "New Interim Policy from the APA" posting.

Proposed Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association Developing By-Laws

A proposed Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association is developing by-laws.

The latest draft is dated 5/27/08. Gunther Eysenbach, publisher of the Journal of Medical Internet Research, has critiqued it in his "Creating an Organization for Open Access Publishers—But Should We Let Big Publishers Dominate?" posting. David Solomon, co-editor of Medical Education Online, has replied to these concerns in an extensive comment to Eysenbach's posting.

DSpace Can Support One Million Items

A paper by researchers from the National Library of Medicine ("Testing the Scalability of a DSpace-based Archive") finds that DSpace can support an archive with a million items. The tested system "is built upon MIT's DSpace software (Version 1.4), with some modifications and enhancements to better facilitate batch based processing."

Here's an excerpt from the conclusion:

We conclude that the version of DSpace used in SPER (with MySQL database) shows acceptable ingest performance for a million-item archive. . . .

The experimental results shown here pertain to items with mostly one or two monochrome TIFF images, though a few items have up to 100 images. However, a number of inferences may be derived from these results.

  • No real problems were found in ingesting a million items to the archive, using a Sun X4500 server machine, in terms of either performance or reliability of the SPER/DSpace software architecture and implementation. . . .
  • With the increase in archive size, the average ingest time of an item increases in a smooth and predictable way.
  • With increasing number of TIFF images, the ingest time (per item) increases by three to four percent for each additional image.
  • If color TIFF images were used, the ingest times would increase slightly due to the overhead of copying additional data to the upload area, and to the archive's asset storage. However, other archival overheads should not change.

EC Proposes 95-Year Copyright Term for Recorded Performances, Issues Copyright Green Paper

The European Commission has proposed a 95-year copyright term for recorded performances. It has also issued Green Paper: Copyright in the Knowledge Economy.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

Term of protection. . . .

The extended term would benefit performers who could continue earning money over an additional period. A 95-year term would bridge the income gap that performers face when they turn 70, just as their early performances recorded in their 20s would lose protection. They will continue to be eligible for broadcast remuneration, remuneration for performances in public places, such as bars and discotheques, and compensation payments for private copying of their performances.

The extended term would also benefit the record producers. It would generate additional revenue from the sale of records in shops and on the Internet. This should allow producers to adapt to the rapidly changing business environment which is characterised by a fast decline in physical sales (- 30% over the past five yeas) and the comparatively slow growth of online sales revenue.

In addition, when it concerns a musical composition, which contains the contributions of several authors, the Commission proposes a uniform way of calculating the term of protection. . . .

Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy. . . .

With this Green Paper, the Commission plans to have a structured debate on the long-term future of copyright policy in the knowledge intensive areas. In particular, the Green Paper is an attempt to structure the copyright debate as it relates to scientific publishing, the digital preservation of Europe's cultural heritage, orphan works, consumer access to protected works and the special needs for the disabled to participate in the information society. The Green Paper points to future challenges in the fields of scientific and scholarly publishing, search engines and special derogations for libraries, researchers and disabled people.

The Green paper focuses not only on the dissemination of knowledge for research, science and education but also on the current legal framework in the area of copyright and the possibilities it can currently offer to a variety of users (social institutions, museums, search engines, disabled people, teaching establishments).

SPARC and ARL Refute AAP Assertions about NIH Public Access Policy

SPARC and ARL have released a white paper, NIH Public Access Policy Does Not Affect U.S. Copyright Law, that refutes assertions made by the Association of American Publishers about the NIH Public Access Policy.

Here's an excerpt from the Summary:

Contrary to the AAP assertions, the NIH Public Access Policy does not affect U.S. copyright law in any way. NIH has added a condition to pre-existing licensing terms in its grant agreements that affirms it can legally provide public access to publicly funded research. This change in the terms of NIH grant agreements is fully consistent with copyright law. Copyright is an author’s right. Researchers are the authors of the articles they write with NIH support. In exchange for substantial federal funding, these researchers voluntarily agree to grant the federal government a license to provide public access to the results of publicly funded research. NIH receives a non-exclusive license from federally funded researchers, who retain their copyrights and are free to enter into traditional publication agreements with biomedical journals or assign these anywhere they so choose, subject to the license to NIH.

This change in the terms of the Public Access Policy has no relation to United States compliance with international intellectual property treaties. The Berne Convention on Copyright and the TRIPS Agreement concern the substance of copyright law, not the terms of licenses granted to the United States in exchange for federal funding. It is longstanding federal policy that in all federal contracts that pay for the creation of copyrighted works, the funding agency must receive a copyright license in exchange for federal funding. It is well recognized that these licenses given by authors have no effect on the robust set of protections given to authors in the United States Copyright Act and similarly raise no issues with respect to international copyright law.

Texas Digital Library Hosts Second E-Journal

The Texas Digital Library is hosting the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research. The first issue is now available.

Articles in the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research are freely available in the PDF format, and they are under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

The journal is edited by Jeremiah Spence, a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin's College of Communication.

The Texas Digital Library also hosts the Journal of Digital Information. Articles in the Journal of Digital Information are freely available in the PDF or HTML formats, and authors retain the copyright to them. Supported by the Texas A&M University Libraries, it is edited by Cliff McKnight, Professor of Information Studies at Loughborough University, and Scott Phillips, Research and Development Coordinator at the Texas A&M University Libraries' Digital Initiatives department.

APA Backs Off $2,500-per-Article PubMed Central Deposit Fee

The American Psychological Association is reconsidering its previously announced $2,500-per-article PubMed Central deposit fee. (See the updated Open Access News "APA Will Charge Authors for Green OA" posting.")

Here's an excerpt from the APA's just revised "Document Deposit Policy and Procedures for APA Journals":

A new document deposit policy of the American Psychological Association (APA) requiring a publication fee to deposit manuscripts in PubMed Central based on research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is currently being re-examined and will not be implemented at this time. . . . APA will soon be releasing more detailed information about the complex issues involved in the implementation of the new NIH Public Access Policy.

Open Access Directory Releases OA Journal Business Models

The Open Access Directory has released a new Wiki page on OA Journal Business Models.

The page currently discusses 11 models, often providing helpful examples:

  1. Added-value products
  2. Advertising
  3. Endowments
  4. Hybrid OA journals
  5. Institutional subsidies
  6. Membership dues
  7. Non-OA publications
  8. Publication fees
  9. Reprints
  10. Submission fees
  11. Volunteer effort

International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation Released

The Library of Congress has released the International Study on the Impact of Copyright Law on Digital Preservation. The report was a collaborative effort by the Library of Congress National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, JISC, the OAK Law Project, and the SURF Foundation.

Here's an excerpt from "Purpose and Background of the Report":

This Report was undertaken:

  1. to review the current state of copyright and related laws and their impact on digital preservation;
  2. to make recommendations for legislative reform and other solutions to ensure that libraries, archives and other preservation institutions can effectively preserve digital works and information in a manner consistent with international laws and norms of copyright and related rights; and
  3. to make recommendations for further study or activities to advance the recommendations in the Report.

APA's NIH Deposit Policy: APA Will Bill Author's Institution $2,500-per-Article Fee

The American Psychological Association's "Document Deposit Policy and Procedures for APA Journals" outlines its policies and procedures regarding the requirements of the NIH Public Access Policy. It indicates that authors are not to deposit accepted articles in PubMed Central. Rather, the APA will do so, billing the author's institution a $2,500-per-article fee. Upon acceptance, the APA will deposit the author's Word file "with all changes based on peer-review editorial feedback and found acceptable by the editor." The APA will retain the article copyright, and authors are not allowed to deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript in any other repository. A deposit form must be submitted for each article.

This policy also addresses Wellcome Trust deposit procedures and fees.

Name Authority Service for Institutional and Subject Repositories: The Names Project

The JISC-funded Names Project is working toward the development of a prototype name authority service for UK repositories that "will reliably and uniquely identify individuals and institutions."

The Names Project has just released the Software Requirements Specification for the Names Project Prototype.

Read more about the project at "What’s in a Name? Prototyping a Name Authority Service for UK Repositories."

A Look at the British Library's Digitization Program's Copyright Challenges

Tracey Caldwell's recent "Scan and Deliver" article examines the copyright challenges that the British Library faces in its digitization program (e.g., copyright issues have to be considered for works going as far back as the 1860s). It also mentions the impact of the shutdown of Microsoft's book digitization program on the British Library (digitization costs were shared 50-50 with Microsoft).

Tools Allow Users to Create Automatically Updated Lists from Research Papers in Economics Database

Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) offers two tools that allow users to create lists from its database: (1) a reading list tool (e.g., Socio-Economics of Fisheries and Aquaculture), and (2) a customized publication compilations tool (e.g., University of Connecticut Economics PhD Alumni). Reading lists are automatically updated each week; publication compilations are automatically updated each month.

Read more about it at "Using RePEc for Syllabi, Bibliographies and Publication Lists."

Greater Western Library Alliance Joins SCOAP3 for 18 Members

The Greater Western Library Alliance has joined the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics (SCOAP3) for 18 of its member research libraries.

Here's an excerpt from the About SCOAP3 page:

To address this situation for HEP and, as an experiment, Science at large, a new model for OA publishing has emerged: SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics). In this model, HEP funding agencies and libraries, which today purchase journal subscriptions to implicitly support the peer-review service, federate to explicitly cover its cost, while publishers make the electronic versions of their journals free to read. Authors are not directly charged to publish their articles OA. . . .

Each SCOAP3 partner will finance its contribution by canceling journal subscriptions. Each country will contribute according to its share of HEP publishing. The transition to OA will be facilitated by the fact that the large majority of HEP articles are published in just six peer-reviewed journals. Of course, the SCOAP3 model is open to any, present or future, high-quality HEP journal aiming at a dynamic market with healthy competition and broader choice.

FCC Chairman Wants FCC to Stop Comcast's P2P Throttling

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin will try to get the FCC to approve an order to Comcast to stop throttling P2P downloads and to provide details about its current and planned network management practices.

Read more about it at: "Comcast Loses: FCC Head Slams Company's P2P Filtering," "Comcast Ordered to Stop BitTorrent Traffic Interference," "FCC: Comcast Broke Rules, But Will Not Face Fines," and "Internet Users Stop Comcast, Net Neutrality Win on the Horizon."

Metadata Image Library Exploitation's Orphan Works Database

The EC-funded Metadata Image Library Exploitation project has established an Orphan Database for images.

An advanced search capability allows users to use a variety of criteria, such as creator of original work, location of original work, and photographer.

Here's a description from the database's home page:

MILE has set up an 'Orphan Database' which acts as a repository for all Orphan Works and invites you to offer information about these works. This database also serves to collate all search efforts for associated works of art so that Europe is provided with a centralised source for Orphan Works discussions, search history and potential repatriation.

Zotero 1.5 Sync Preview Released

The Center for History and New Media at George Mason University has released the Zotero 1.5 Sync Preview.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement that describes its features:

  • Automatic synchronization of collections among multiple computers. . . .
  • Free automatic backup of your library data on Zotero’s servers.
  • Support for thousands of existing Endnote® export styles. . . .
  • A new style manager allowing you to add and delete CSLs and legacy style formats.
  • Preliminary support for local sharing of collections through ZeroConf on OS X. Other platforms and full support to come with the final release of Zotero 1.5.

See the documentation for additional details.

SRU Open Search: Open Source Customizable Interface for Displaying SRU-Formatted XML

The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services at the University of Strathclyde has released SRU Open Search, an open source customizable interface for displaying SRU-formatted XML.

Here are some features selected from a more comprehensive list:

  • Bookmarkable pages, so you can share a page of results via email
  • Share items via social bookmarking sites (Delicious, Digg, Google)
  • Featured audio highlighting—inline mp3 player via flash
  • Featured content highlighting . . .
  • Visualisation of search terms via pie chart, tag cloud & tree map . . .
  • Portable version of search so users can add to their own site
  • Browser search plugin for Firefox & Internet Explorer (inc Auto Suggest)

Institutional Repositories and Research Management Systems

Kate Price has posted a summary of the responses she received to an informal survey she did on JISC-REPOSITORIES about the use of institutional repositories and central publications databases. Responses are broken down into five models (e.g., "operates separate open access repository and central publications databases") and by system (e.g., EPrints).

In a related message, David Groenewegen points to the ARROW HERDC Working Group Interim Report May 2008.

Here's an excerpt from the report's "Introduction":

This report is an interim report on the activities of the Working Group. The interim report aims to stimulate discussion and invite feedback which will inform the final report.

As a first step the Working Group has identified and developed four potential broad models to represent the relationship between the university's research management system and the institutional repository.

The purpose of these models is to suggest possible workflows and processes, to stimulate discussion, and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. It is assumed that local use of these models will necessitate variants as required by the environment of each institution.

ETC-Press Launches at Carnegie Mellon University Publishing Works Under Creative Commons Licenses

The Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University has launched ETC-Press, which will publish books and other works under either the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivativeWorks-NonCommercial or the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

Here's an excerpt from the About ETC Press page:

We publish books, but we’re also interested in the participatory future of content creation across multiple media. We are an academic, open source, multimedia, publishing imprint affiliated with the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and in partnership with Lulu.com. ETC Press has an affiliation with the Institute for the Future of the Book, sharing in the exploration of the evolution of discourse. ETC Press also has an agreement with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) to place ETC Press publications in the ACM Digital Library. . . .

We are looking to develop a range of texts and media that are innovative and insightful. We are interested in creating projects with Sophie, and we will accept submissions and publish work in a variety of media (textual, electronic, digital, etc.).