The (anonymized) query below concerning Wiley's NIH policy is in error, so I am preceding it by a correction:
(1) The new Wiley NIH policy below is specific to Wiley's compliance with the NIH public access policy, which invites NIH fundees to deposit their NIH-funded papers in PubMed Central (PMC) -- a third party central archive (i.e., neither the author's institutional archive nor the publisher's archive).
(2) The Wiley NIH policy is to deposit the author's paper in PMC on the author's behalf.
(3) The Wiley NIH policy has no bearing whatsoever on 1st-party self-archiving by the author in the author's own institutional repository; Wiley's policy on immediate author/institution self-archiving is and continues to be green.
Just as it would be a good idea if publishers were to refrain from speculating about doomsday scenarios (about catastrophic cancellations as a result of self-archiving) for which there is
zero positive evidence and against which there is a good deal of
negative evidence, it would be a good idea if librarians and OA advocates were to refrain from speculating about sinister scenarios involving NIH-inspired publisher back-sliding on self-archiving policy, for which there is and continues to be exactly
one single isolated example --
Nature Publishing Group -- and even that merely a case of
back-sliding from a postprint full-green policy to a preprint pale-green policy (which is
of next to no consequence, as one can have 100% OA with corrected preprints).
Author/institution self-archiving is and always was the 100% certain path to 100% OA. 100% self-archiving is (and always was) completely within the hands of the research community. And it is unstoppable. The fact that we are not there yet is definitely not the fault of publishers but of the sluggishness and slow-wittedness of the research community (which is also it's primary beneficiary).
But it does look as if we are coming to our senses at last... The
RCUK policy may prove to be the decisive step.
Stevan Harnad
Date:
Thu, 21 Jul 2005 12:12:15 +010
From: [identity deleted]
To: American Scientist Open Access Forum
Subject: Wiley Publishers deposit in PMC
This could be a way of publishers encouraging authors not to deposit - ie the publisher will do it, but creates an embargo because it appears that the publisher deposited article will not be available until 12 months after publication? Do you know if other publishers are following this policy? The National Institutes of Health Public Access Initiative
Response and Guidance for Journal Editors and Contributors
Notice of Wiley's Compliance with NIH Grants and Contracts Policy
Recently, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has requested that its grantees submit copies of manuscripts upon their acceptance for publication to PubMedCentral (PMC), a repository housed within the National Library of Medicine..
On behalf of our authors who are also NIH grantees, Wiley will deposit in PMC at the same time that the article is published in our journal the peer-reviewed version of the author's manuscript. Wiley will stipulate that the manuscript may be available for "public access" in PMC 12 months after the date of publication.
By assuming this responsibility, Wiley will ensure that authors are in compliance with the NIH request, as well as make certain the appropriate version of the manuscript is deposited.
When an NIH grant is mentioned in the Acknowledgments or any other section of a manuscript, Wiley will assume that the author wants the manuscript deposited into PMC, unless the author states otherwise. The author can communicate this via email, or a note in the manuscript. The version of the manuscript that Wiley sends to PMC will be the accepted version, i.e. the version that the journal's Editor-in-Chief sends to Wiley for publication.
Wiley will notify the author when the manuscript has been sent to PMC.
Because Wiley is taking the responsibility for sending the manuscripts to PMC, in order to ensure an orderly process, authors should not deposit Wiley articles to PMC themselves. Authors should not make corrections to their Wiley-deposited manuscripts in PMC.
Wiley reserves the right to change or rescind this policy.
For further information, please get in touch with your editorial contact at Wiley, or see the
NIH Policy on Public Access.
