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

Mon Mar 5 09:37:05 UTC 2012

hi Peter,

this part

> 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.

might be changed into sth like

-->
I do not accept that individuals should be required to seek individual permission. This is indeed relevant to all scientists in all Universities who subscribe to Elsevier journals and to the public.

Solving the technical details is a job that is already being paid for by your subscribers.
<--

hth, 
Claudia

On Mon, 5 Mar 2012 09:06:31 +0000, Peter Murray-Rust wrote
> 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
> 
>

> Iam 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
>
* toextract facts from the journal literature to which Cambridge subscribesas 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 [WINDOWS-1252?]–
> Isee 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 andI 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

thanks & cheers, 
Claudia 
koltzenburg at w4w.net

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