The Bookseller.com

2nd December 2008

« Headlines

Principles agreed for open access material

10.10.07 Mark Chillingworth

New principles for re-using open access published scientific material have been agreed, stressing the value that publishers bring to the research process. The statement of principles from the UK PubMed Central Publishers Panel will enable scientists and researchers to use published ma­terial themselves in databases and linking, which could lead to further scientific discovery.

The principles state that open access published articles can be copied, and the text data mined for further research, as long as the original author is fully attributed. Re-use of the material must be for non-commercial purposes and cannot alter the moral rights of the original authors.

The new agreement also validates the role of publishers and the value they add to research, and encourages funding bodies to establish mechanisms whereby "legitimate research costs" can be met.

Bob Campbell, senior publisher at Wiley-Blackwell, said the prin­ciples "demonstrate that funders and publishers can work together constructively". A number of publishers already provide an open access option in accord with the principles, including Springer, OUP and Elsevier.

The UKPMC Publishers Panel is made up of the UK Publishers Association; the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers; and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers, along with representatives of the funders of UK PubMed Central.

Mark Chillingworth is editor of online information title Information World Review.

Information World Review

Open Access Mark Chillingworth frankfurt