<font size="2"><font face="trebuchet ms,sans-serif">[Forwarding from the American Physical Society. --Peter Suber.]<br></font></font><br><div class="gmail_quote"><br>American Physical Society to Adopt Creative Commons Licensing<br>
and Publish Open Access Articles and Journals<br>
<br>
Ridge, NY, 15 February 2011---As of 15 February 2011, authors<br>
in most Physical Review journals have a new alternative: to pay<br>
an article-processing charge whereby their accepted manuscripts<br>
will be available barrier-free and open access on publication.<br>
These manuscripts will be published under the terms of the<br>
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License (CC-BY),<br>
<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/</a>, the most permissive of<br>
the CC licenses, granting authors and others the right to copy,<br>
distribute, transmit, and adapt the work, provided that proper<br>
credit is given. This new alternative is in addition to traditional<br>
subscription-funded publication; authors may choose one or the<br>
other for their accepted papers.<br>
<br>
The new article-processing charges, which will cover all costs<br>
and provide a sustainable funding model, have been set at $1700<br>
for papers in the Physical Review and $2700 for those in Physical<br>
Review Letters. The resulting open access articles will appear<br>
alongside and mixed in with subscription-funded articles, converting<br>
these journals into 'hybrid' open access journals.<br>
<br>
"The most selective of our journals must have higher article-processing<br>
charges for their open access articles," said Gene Sprouse,<br>
APS Editor in Chief. "Physical Review accepts about 60% of articles<br>
submitted and Physical Review Letters roughly 25%, so the costs<br>
are higher than in less selective journals."<br>
<br>
Revenue from the article-processing charges will decrease the need<br>
for subscription income and help to keep the APS subscription<br>
price-per-article among the lowest of any physics journals. "We'd<br>
like to reduce the pressure on library subscriptions, while opening<br>
access more widely. Article-processing charges are a means to accomplish<br>
both," said Joseph Serene, APS Treasurer/Publisher.<br>
<br>
Also as of 15 February, Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators<br>
and Beams (PRST-AB) and Physical Review Special Topics - Physics<br>
Education Research (PRST-PER) will have their full archives and all<br>
future papers made available under the CC-BY license, thereby converting<br>
both of these journals to 'gold' open access journals. PRST-PER's<br>
publication-charge scheme has been realigned with the new program.<br>
PRST-AB will continue to be funded by its sponsors. Finally, APS's<br>
Free to Read program, <a href="http://publish.aps.org/FREETOREAD_FAQ.html" target="_blank">http://publish.aps.org/FREETOREAD_FAQ.html</a>,<br>
will be phased out, and all of these papers covered by the CC-BY license.<br>
<br>
These developments for existing APS journals follow the announcement<br>
in January of a new journal, Physical Review X (PRX) <a href="http://prx.aps.org/" target="_blank">http://prx.aps.org/</a>,<br>
an online-only, fully open access, primary research journal covering all of physics<br>
and its applications to related fields. As a .gold. open access journal,<br>
PRX opened its doors wide to all fields of physics, including those that<br>
have not conveniently fitted within the scope of our existing journals.<br>
<br>
Contact: James W. Taylor, American Physical Society<br>
<a href="mailto:james@aps.org">james@aps.org</a>, 631-591-4221<br>
<br>
<br>
About APS: The American Physical Society (<a href="http://www.aps.org" target="_blank">www.aps.org</a>) is a non-profit<br>
membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of<br>
physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings,<br>
and education, outreach, advocacy and international activities. APS<br>
represents 48,000 members, including physicists in academia, national<br>
laboratories and industry in the United States and throughout the world.<br>
Society offices are located in College Park, MD (Headquarters),<br>
Ridge, NY, and Washington, DC.<br>
<br>
<br></div>