[GOAL] Re: Springer for sale - implications for open access?

[Jan Velterop]

Heather,

1) Open access licences — of any kind, including all the CC-licences, not just CC-BY — cannot be revoked. Only replaced, by the licensor (the © holder), by a more liberal one. E.g. CC-BY-NC licences by CC-BY ones. Springer, or its successors and assigns, will not be able to make OA articles closed-access anymore.

2) Springer is in CLOCKSS

3) Springer's open access articles in the life sciences (>90% of their OA material at present, I understand) are in PMC and UKPMC

4) Springer's output is deposited at the Dutch National Library and perhaps some others as well.

5) As for making OA, or any other, material available on their own platform in perpetuity, Springer's obligations are indeed limited. That is true for *all* publishers, for-profit or not-for-profit, in respect of *all* materials they publish, OA or not. The solution to that, ever since Alexandria in the 3rd century BC, has been libraries.

You seem to have an extraordinary lack of any trust in the publishing and legal system.

Jan Velterop


On 11 Oct 2012, at 02:32, Heather Morrison wrote:

> On 10-Oct-12, at 2:58 PM, David Prosser wrote:
> 
> ...The simple fact is that the Springer OA articles published to date  
> will remain OA whoever purchases the company
> 
> Comment:
> 
> This sounds very reassuring. However, I argue that this is not a  
> simple fact at all. Please explain how this work and how you know this  
> work. For example, are you privy to inside knowledge about Springer  
> contracts? Are your Research Libraries copying the Springer OA content  
> and planning making this available? If the latter, are these concrete  
> plans with funding attached or tentative?
> 
> If Springer went out of business altogether, that would constitute a  
> trigger event for CLOCKSS, but not if the business is transferred.
> 
> At the very least, can we agree that something other than using a  
> particular CC license needs to happen to make works open access for  
> the long term, such as a library or archive storing, preserving, and  
> making the works OA?
> 
> best,
> 
> Heather Morrison
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