[Open-access] Risks in using an Addendum

[Cameron Neylon]

I would advise talking to Stuart Shieber at Harvard who is the architect of their policy and will have experience of exactly which publishers do what and under what circumstances. I would also say that if you align your policy with Harvard's then you've and you have information from them on what agreements they have in place with publishers that you can use that as leverage. 

Cheers

Cameron

On 12 Dec 2013, at 00:29, Steven Bhardwaj <sbhard at bu.edu> wrote:

> I've never heard even a rumour of a journal either cancelling or delaying publication due to an author's use of an addendum. AT WORST they will just refuse to accept the addendum.
> 
> Great to hear! Perhaps anecdotes like yours are all I need for hard evidence, if there are enough of them. Maybe I should draft an open letter that expresses what you are saying, and get it signed by a number of academics, deans, provosts, and the like, at institutions where many papers are published with addenda.
> 
> Would an open letter would be a good method? Has it already been done, or is there a better way?
> 
> I recommend a simpler solution: just place your manuscript in the public domain. This will put it on the same footing as works produced by the US Federal Government, e.g. palaeontologists working for the Bureau of Land Management. Then when the journal asks for copyright transfer, you can simply and honestly reply that there is no copyright to transfer, but that give enthusiastic permission to publish.
> 
> That's certainly innovative and exciting, a daredevil way to publish a work open-access... I like it! I reviewed an interesting thread on the topic here on svpow that you participated in. However, I worry that faculty leadership at my institution are somewhat loss-averse regarding their junior faculty's publications. The query I am reporting comes from comments made by one of our Associate Provosts. I expect that none could accuse her of playing fast and loose with the university's academic ranking.
> 
> -Steven Bhardwaj
> sbhard at bu.edu
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 8:59 AM, Mike Taylor <mike at indexdata.com> wrote:
> I can only offer more anecdotal evidence: I've never heard even a
> rumour of a journal either cancelling or delaying publication due to
> an author's use of an addendum. AT WORST they will just refuse to
> accept the addendum.
> 
> Meanwhile, I recommend a simpler solution: just place your manuscript
> in the public domain. This will put it on the same footing as works
> produced by the US Federal Government, e.g. palaeontologists working
> for the Bureau of Land Management. Then when the journal asks for
> copyright transfer, you can simply and honestly reply that there is no
> copyright to transfer, but that give enthusiastic permission to
> publish.
> 
> -- Mike.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 11 December 2013 13:38, Steven Bhardwaj <sbhard at bu.edu> wrote:
> > Dear Colleagues,
> >
> > I suspect the following question may seem frustrating, but it may become an
> > important talking point in our Open Access advocacy work at Boston
> > University.
> >
> > We are advocating for an opt-out OA policy, as described here. A practical
> > question has come up, and I am trying to improve our response to it. I think
> > that if we had a stronger response to this question, it might ease the
> > bureaucratic process greatly.
> >
> > Question:
> >
> > Consider a young Assistant Professor, "Professor Priya," who just got an
> > article accepted by a prestigious toll-access journal. She receives the
> > publishing contract in an email, and it restricts Green Open Access rather
> > strictly.
> >
> > Earnestly complying with her university's new opt-out policy, Priya signs
> > the contract with an Author's Addendum, and sends it in.
> >
> > Should Priya be concerned about including this addendum? Is there a risk
> > that her inclusion of the addendum will delay the article's publication, or
> > even cause the journal's acceptance of the article to be canceled? Or, can
> > she rest assured that the publisher will reply back in a timely fashion,
> > allowing her to get the article published.
> >
> > She is willing to agree to a reasonable embargo period, and even to opt-out
> > of some of the authors' rights reserved under the opt-out policy. But she
> > doesn't want to miss this opportunity to get this article published. The
> > tenure-track review board is meeting next month!
> >
> >
> > My institutional librarians have assured me that "Professor Priya" has
> > nothing to worry about. However, I am left with few advocacy tools other
> > than their anecdotal assurances. I would love to remove this nebulous worry
> > from the pro/con balance of an opt-out policy here at BU.
> >
> > What kind of harder evidence could help assure the faculty that the addendum
> > will certainly not affect Priya's already-accepted article being published
> > in a timely fashion? A survey of institutional librarians? A survey of
> > publishers? A survey of journal editors?
> >
> > Thanks much for your time and consideration of this query.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > -Steven Bhardwaj
> > sbhard at bu.edu
> > Economics PhD Candidate
> > Boston University for Open Access
> > buoa.blogspot.com
> >
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