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<p>- Apologies for cross-posting - <br>
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<p>“With this letter”, says Norbert Lossau, Chair of COAR Executive
Board, “The Confederation of Open Access Repositories is joining
in the growing protest against Elsevier’s practices opposing open
access. We strongly believe that open access will greatly improve
the impact and use of scholarly publications, and maximize our
collective global investment in research.”</p>
<p><strong>
February 6, 2012<br>
<br>
Maximizing the visibility of research outputs: COAR call for
action<b><br>
</b></strong></p>
<p>
Open letter to Youngsuk (Y.S.) Chi - Chairman, Elsevier Management
Committee and Head of Global Academic & Customer Relations<br>
<br>
</p>
<p>The Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) joins the <a
href="http://thecostofknowledge.com/">research community</a> in
condemning Elsevier for its recent business practices and lobbying
that undermine policies and activities promoting open access to
scholarly literature. While many commercial publishers are working
to adapt their business models to rising demands for open access,
Elsevier has systematically acted to counter progress being made
in the scholarly community towards this end.</p>
<p>One easy way of achieving open access is through the deposit of
articles into online open access repositories. COAR strongly
opposes the changes made by Elsevier to its <a
href="http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/authorsview.authors/postingpolicy">article
posting policies</a>. These policies prohibit authors affiliated
with institutions or agencies that have open access mandates to
deposit copies of their articles into an open access repository
unless their institution signs a very restrictive agreement with
Elsevier. Despite their public commitment to “universal access”,
Elsevier’s policies are greatly limiting access to scholarly
literature.</p>
<p>These policies are in direct conflict with the objectives of
COAR’s members and partners as well as the broader scholarly
community, which aim to maximize access to and use of research
literature. Therefore, COAR is discouraging its members and others
from entering into agreements with Elsevier or other publishers
that undermine open access mandates and intervene with already
established and emerging author practices of article deposit.</p>
<p>COAR urges Elsevier to reconsider its prohibitive approach to
open access and revise its policies to allow the deposit of
research articles with minimum delay. We encourage publishers to
work closely with the library and repository communities to
develop effective and sustainable methods for article deposit that
serve the needs of researchers, their institutions, and society as
a whole. In addition, COAR welcomes like-minded organizations –
such as licensing agencies, library consortia, etc. – to join us
in developing and adopting best practice for policies and
procedures regarding article deposit into open access
repositories.</p>
<p>The Confederation of Open Access Repositories is a not-for-profit
association of repository initiatives that aims to enhance
visibility and application of research outputs through global
networks of Open Access digital repositories. COAR represents over
80 institutions from 24 countries from throughout Europe, Latin
America, Asia, and North America.</p>
<p>Norbert Lossau, Chair of the Executive Board, Confederation of
Open Access Repositories<br>
</p>
<p>Further information<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.coar-repositories.org/">http://www.coar-repositories.org/</a> <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.coar-repositories.org/news/coar-writes-open-letter-as-reaction-to-elseviers-practices/">http://www.coar-repositories.org/news/coar-writes-open-letter-as-reaction-to-elseviers-practices/</a><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
******************************************************
Dr. Birgit Schmidt
Scientific Manager
Goettingen State and University Library
- Electronic Publishing -
Platz der Goettinger Sieben 1
D-37073 Goettingen
Tel. +49 551 39-5228
Fax +49 551 39-5222
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:bschmidt@sub.uni-goettingen.de">bschmidt@sub.uni-goettingen.de</a>
______________________________________________________
COAR <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.coar-repositories.org">www.coar-repositories.org</a>
OpenAIRE <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.openaire.eu">www.openaire.eu</a>
OAPEN <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.oapen.org">www.oapen.org</a>
Open Access <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.open-access.net">www.open-access.net</a></pre>
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