[GOAL] Re: Instistence by researchers that we do not make metadata

[Clement-Stoneham Geraldine]

Danny,

Some journals like to control the way information is being published about new papers, and therefore impose a strict press embargo period (another embargo, nothing to do with green OA embargo period). This sometime referred to as the "Ingelfinger rule" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingelfinger_rule).

All of this is well orchestrated, with a press pack made available so that coverage is reflecting accurately the research, and is advertised to authors as the added value offered by the publishers if they chose to submit their paper to them. This explains why you often see papers published in Nature, or Science, all making the headlines of daily press on the same day. The downside of course is that they do act as "gagging orders", which can make it tricky for researchers to talk about their research once the paper has been accepted, but not yet published (which can go for weeks/months).

One of the issues with the HEFCE requirement to add article metadata to a repository at the acceptance stage, was that this could inadvertently breach such publishers' embargo by release some (even if not much) information about the paper ahead of time. I believe this is what your researcher is concerned about. I am not sure that at this stage there is a way around it, but it would deserve a wider conversation. Less traditional journals such as eLife have deliberately done away with such embargo, and indeed encourage authors to discuss their research as soon as they wish, which seems to be better aligned with "open science" principles.

You'll find more details for the journal you named here

http://www.nature.com/authors/policies/embargo.html
http://www.nejm.org/page/author-center/embargo
http://www.cell.com/cell/authors#prepub

and eLife's policy
http://elifesciences.org/elife-news/authors-the-media-and-elife

Best wishes
Geraldine


Geraldine Clement-Stoneham
Knowledge and Information Manager
Medical Research Council
Tel: +44 (0) 207 395 2272
Mobile: +44 79 00 136 319
geraldine.clement-stoneham at headoffice.mrc.ac.uk<mailto:geraldine.clement-stoneham at headoffice.mrc.ac.uk>



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