Re: Nature's vs. Science's Embargo Policy

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 01:14:31 +0000

I would like to ask Mike Eisen for the source of his quote from Nature
in: http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/2563.html

The reason I ask is this:
On Fri, 10 Jan 2003
in http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/2572.html
Linda Humphreys <L.J.Humphreys_at_bath.ac.uk> wrote:

> We asked Nature for clarification of this point last June, reply below.
>
> From: Hazel Grainger [mailto:lishg_at_bath.ac.uk]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 11, 2002 4:02 PM
> To: permissions_at_nature.com
> Subject: Author Licence
>
> I just wanted to clarify one point made on your Author Licence FAQ
> web page. Point 1 states:
>
> "The licence says I may post the PDF on my "own" web site. What does
> 'own' mean? It means a personal site, or portion of a site, either
> owned by you or at your institution (provided this institution is
> not for profit)....."
>
> Does this include an Institution-based e-print server at a
> University (a not-for-profit service)?
>
> Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 17:55:59 +0100
> From: Permissions <Permissions_at_nature.com>
>
> Dear Hazel,
>
> Yes, this includes an institution-based e-print server at your university.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Marie Williams
> Nature Permissions Officer
> The Macmillan Building
> 4-6 Crinan Street
> London N1 9XW
> Tel: 44 (0)207 833 4000
> Fax: 44 (0)207 843 4596
> permissions_at_nature.com
> http://www.nature.com/nature

Turning to the Nature License, I find the following, consitent with the
above:

    [From Nature License]
    The Authors retain the following non-exclusive rights:

    To post a copy of the Contribution on the Authors' own web site after
    publication of the printed edition of the Journal, provided that they
    also give a hyperlink from the Contribution to the Journal's web site.
http://npg.nature.com/pdf/05_news.pdf

The Nature FAQ says the following, likewise conistent with the above:

   [From Nature License FAQ]
   The licence says I may post the PDF on my "own" web site. What does
   "own" mean?

   It means a personal site, or portion of a site, either owned
   by you or at your institution (provided this institution is
   not-for-profit), devoted to you and your work. If in doubt, please
   contact permissions_at_nature.com.
http://npg.nature.com/npg/servlet/Content?data=xml/05_faq.xml&style=xml/05_faq.xsl

So all of this seems to agree with the reply to Hazel's inquiry and the
reply from nature's permissions department.

But on Thu, 9 Jan 2003 Michael Eisen <mbeisen_at_LBL.GOV> wrote:

>me> [Nature] explicitly preclude placing the papers in an archive!
>
> "Authors may also post a copy of their paper on their own website
> once the printed edition has been published, provided that they also
> provide a link from the contribution to Nature's website. 'Their
> own' refers to any site devoted to them, whether owned by them
> or by a not-for-profit employer. However, it does not mean open
> archival websites, such as those that host collections of articles
> by an institution's researchers, which would amount to a breach of
> our licence."

Mike, where is this quote from? (Could you simply have gotten a piece
of incorrect advice from an uninformed person in Nature's Permissions
Department?)

Cheers, Stevan
Received on Sat Jan 11 2003 - 01:14:31 GMT

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