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comment by dublinben
dublinben  ·  4334 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Hiding your research behind a paywall is immoral

Can't you simultaneously release your article on an open access journal (or your own site) when it is published with the paid journal?





b_b  ·  4334 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Typically, you have to sign a statement saying that the data haven't been published anywhere else. You do still own the copyright, however, and you can send a reprint of your article to whomever you want.

dublinben  ·  4334 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Since you still retain the copyright, I'm just wondering why it isn't more common to freely publish articles once they've been published in the journal for prestige. If I'd done lots of hard research, I'd want as many people to read it as possible.

b_b  ·  4334 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Excuse me, I misspoke. I just went back and read my most recent copyright transfer agreement. It states the journal owns the copyright to the specific article, even though the authors retain rights to the data themselves. There is a specific exception for authors to send individual copies to colleagues, provided no money changes hands, but publishing the article directly (in print or online) is prohibited.

dublinben  ·  4334 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That sounds like a terrible deal. I'm sorry you had to sign your rights away just to get published. Paid journals really are scum.

b_b  ·  4334 days ago  ·  link  ·  

This system is not long for the world. Enough people hate it that it will collapse soon. In the beginning online only journals, especially open access ones, were looked at as the ghetto of academic publishing. These days there are several that people take very seriously. PLoS One (and all the family of PLoS journals) is the most famous, and I really respect what they do. I think you'll continue to see these grow until they just take over. To paraphrase Max plank: There are no scientific revolutions; the older generation just eventually dies.