Peer Review

Steve Inchcoombe, managing director of Nature Publishing Group writes, of Nature:

"We also support and encourage self-archiving of the author’s final version of accepted articles."

But if you look in the Romeo directory of publisher self-archiving policies, you will find that whereas Nature is indeed among the 92% of journals that have endorsed the immediate self-archiving of the author's unrefereed first draft (the preprint), Nature is not among the 63% of journals that have endorsed the immediate self-archiving of the author's peer-reviewed final draft (the postprint) -- the one that is the real target of OA, and indispensable for research usage and progress.

Nature used to be "green" on the immediate self-archiving of both preprints and postprints, but, electing to take half of NIH's maximal allowable access embargo as its own minimum, Nature became one of the few journals that back-slid in 2005 to impose a 6-month embargo on open access to the peer-reviewed final draft.

It doesn't make much difference, because Institutional Repositories still have the almost-OA email eprint request-a-copy Button to tide over research usage needs during the embargo, but let it not be thought that Nature is still on the "side of the angels" insofar as OA is concerned...

Maxine Clarke, Publishing Executive Editor, Nature, replied: "Don't forget that people can always read the article in the journal, Stevan, as soon as it is published! The vast majority of scientists are either at an institution with a site license or can access the journal free via OARE, AGORA or HINARI, so they don't even have to take out a subscription."

But what about those would-be users worldwide who are "[n]either at an institution with a site license [n]or can access the journal free via OARE, AGORA or HINARI"? Is there any reason whatsoever why they should all be denied access for six months if they (or their institutions) do not "have [the funds] to take out a subscription"?

Because that, Maxine, is what OA is really all about.

Stevan Harnad
American Scientist Open Access Forum