Copyright for Chemists

Here's a simple question: who "owns" your papers after they're published in a journal? The answer depends on the journal. But if you're like most chemists, the publisher owns your article. Period. You are legally allowed to redistribute your article only under terms given by the publisher. Any other use is punishable by law. Why should this matter? After all, as long as colleagues and hiring/promotion committees can access your articles, that's all that really matters - right? Re-Thinking the Permanence of Journals Although it may seem impossible, your favorite journal's days may be numbered. Over the last several years, a number of factors have been lining up against the traditional subscriber-pays journal publication system and the publishers who make their money from it: Library budgets frozen or shrinking. Academic libraries have been under mounting financial pressure. This matters to publishing chemists because the vast majority of those reading journal papers do so through an institutional subscription. Journal prices rising. A recent case involving SUNY Potsdam and the American Chemical Society brought the consequences of escalating journal costs into sharp focus. A few years ago, the entire University of California system threatened to boycott Nature Publishing group over unreasonable price increases. Government stepping in. The White House recently announced an extension of its policy requiring authors of federally-funded research to make copies of their papers ...
Source: Depth-First - Category: Chemists Authors: Source Type: blogs