[Open-access] Discussions with Elsevier on information-mining

Mon Mar 5 09:06:31 UTC 2012

I have been contacted by Alicia Wise of Elsevier about their refusal to
allow me unrestricted mining of the content in Elsevier journals. I
reproduce the correspondence as I believe it is in the public interest and
sprang from a public conversation at the Oxford meeting. I'd be grateful
for rapid comments from this list. My response to Elsevier is clear:

   - non-negotiable rights
   - report Elsevier's stated position to Hargreaves

My reply to Alicia Wise / Elsevier

PMR: I have copied in colleagues who were present at our conversation on
Wednesday

> *AW: We are keen to arrange a teleconference with you all to discuss ways
> to enable text mining for academics at Cambridge University.  I met Peter
> for the first time on Wednesday, and he clearly feels very frustrated with
> Elsevier as he has sought in various ways to obtain text mining services
> for the last couple of years.  We clearly need to focus on his specific
> project, but I am hopeful that in parallel we can explore whether there is
> a broader text mining requirement at Cambridge (I strongly suspect there
> is) and the best way to empower the library to support this.  By working
> together we are most likely to find solutions that will scale.*
>

My understanding from our conversation is that you agree (or do not
disagree) that I have a right to mine scientific content in journals. I
believe that the situation is actually quite simple and have described it
in my blog

http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2012/03/04/information-mining-and-hargreaves-i-set-out-the-absolute-rights-for-readers-non-negotiable/

>
> *AW: My colleague, Jason Roof, has kindly agreed to set up this
> teleconference for us.*
>

I am not clear why I am needed in this teleconference. The two actions that
Elsevier need to carry out are:

   - remove the current contractual restrictions in the Cambridge contract
   - remove or reconfigure the Elsevier robots so that journalmining is a
   legitimate activity

I am not the legal representative of the University and cannot sign an
amended contract. I am also not knowledgeable about how Elsevier robots
prevent academics  carrying out mining.

I have no specific project. I have stated my requirements very simply

   - to extract facts from the journal literature to which Cambridge
   subscribes as frequently as I wish or need and in whatever scale I need
   without requiring any explicit need to seek permission. To publish as many
   results as I wish on the open web under a CC0 licence, consistent with the
   Panton Principles for Open Scientific Data

I do not wish this to be a PMR-specific activity - I wish it for all
scientists in all Universities who subscribe to Elsevier journals. I do not
accept that individuals should be required to seek individual permission.
How the technical details are solved is irrelevant to me.

I shall report the progress made in our submission to the Hargreaves report
by March 21.

I hope this is clear - please let me know if it is not.

>
>

> *AW: With very kind wishes, and looking forward to speaking with you soon
> –*
>

I see no need to speak, but if it helps resolve this issue for the world
once and for all am happy to devote time to it and set up teleconferences.
However I have wasted weeks with Elsevier up to now and I have no desire to
spend time talking without the certainty of attaining the scholarly rights
I have indicated.

I shall treat our correspondence as public now and in the future.

-- 
Peter Murray-Rust
Reader in Molecular Informatics
Unilever Centre, Dep. Of Chemistry
University of Cambridge
CB2 1EW, UK
+44-1223-763069
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