5 ms·

I think you are allowed to distribute pdf copies of your published work on a personal website, even if they appear in a paywalled journal

by mjfl 6y ago

logifail 6y ago
> pdf copies of your published work Not wishing to sound facetious, but where would I get the PDFs, other than from - say - SciHub? I have the original bound journal for one of them, but you can bet your bottom dollar it would be illegal for me to start making photocopies of my work and handing them out...
- g_p 6y ago
  A good point actually - from a legal perspective this is tricky. Generally the publisher claims copyright over the arrangement that is "published". Photocopying the printed version would therefore be problematic. With digital formats, the general approach is to export a PDF from LaTeX (or whatever is used to write the paper) as an author pre-print copy (i.e. not in the final form used by the journal), and publish that one. From a technical legal perspective you would likely need to look at what agreement you signed with the publisher at the time (if any), since that may restrict distribution of the text. This raises a good point though for works that were pre-open access, and the risk of them "rotting" behind paywalls out of being in a state of legal limbo. Newer science will be more accessible due to open access rules, but older science may end up effectively "lost" to those without access to these paywalled repositories. There's no real incentive for those publishers to open things up, as they rely on institutions paying large subscriptions to preserve access to the legacy archived content, and that keeps their many thousands of staff employed.
- powersnail 6y ago
  Can’t you export it to PDF with whatever software you used write the paper? It might not be pixel-perfect like a photocopy, but the words should all be there.
  - statstutor 6y ago
    This might misunderstand how science authorship works. I was once congratulated for publishing a paper I had no idea existed, after I gave someone permission to use my research work in exchange for credit. It took me some effort to view a copy of what I had "written".
rirarobo 6y ago
Actually, this depends on the terms defined by each particular journal or conference to which the work is submitted. While things have gotten better in recent years, traditionally even distribution on personal websites is technically not allowed, just selectively enforced, again depending on the venue and even the exposure of the particular work or lab group. When enforcement is more strict, researchers sometimes resort to hosting a draft of their manuscript, and not the final camera ready version. Unfortunately, in many fields open access or even just personal hosting and is still uncommon, and the vast majority of papers remain behind paywalls.
- Vinnl 6y ago
  Also depends on your jurisdiction. In the Netherlands, researchers are allowed to make their own works available to anyone six months after publication, regardless of their publisher's terms: https://www.openaccess.nl/en/in-the-netherlands/you-share-we-take-care https://www.openaccess.nl/en/in-the-netherlands/you-share-we... Of course, it's not perfect since it still requires work on the part of the author, but all they have to do is give it to a university library and they'll make sure it's available as soon as it's allowed.
  - logifail 6y ago
    > all they have to do is give it to a university library Give what? Their permission? The source document (pre-print) that went to the journal? The PDF of the published article?
    - Vinnl 6y ago
      The poster [1] refers to "the published version", so yes, the PDF of the published article. But Dutch researchers who are interested can probably best just get in touch with their library, who I'm sure will be able to tell them exactly what they need. [1] https://www.openaccess.nl/sites/www.openaccess.nl/files/documenten/vsnu_open_acces_6_months-digitale_flyer_eng.pdf https://www.openaccess.nl/sites/www.openaccess.nl/files/docu...

I think you are allowed to distribute pdf copies of your published work on a personal website, even if they appear in a paywalled journal

by mjfl 6y ago

I think you are allowed to distribute pdf copies of your published work on a personal website, even if they appear in a paywalled journal

logifail 6y ago

> pdf copies of your published work Not wishing to sound facetious, but where would I get the PDFs, other than from - say - SciHub? I have the original bound journal for one of them, but you can bet your bottom dollar it would be illegal for me to start making photocopies of my work and handing them out...

g_p 6y ago
A good point actually - from a legal perspective this is tricky. Generally the publisher claims copyright over the arrangement that is "published". Photocopying the printed version would therefore be problematic. With digital formats, the general approach is to export a PDF from LaTeX (or whatever is used to write the paper) as an author pre-print copy (i.e. not in the final form used by the journal), and publish that one. From a technical legal perspective you would likely need to look at what agreement you signed with the publisher at the time (if any), since that may restrict distribution of the text. This raises a good point though for works that were pre-open access, and the risk of them "rotting" behind paywalls out of being in a state of legal limbo. Newer science will be more accessible due to open access rules, but older science may end up effectively "lost" to those without access to these paywalled repositories. There's no real incentive for those publishers to open things up, as they rely on institutions paying large subscriptions to preserve access to the legacy archived content, and that keeps their many thousands of staff employed.
powersnail 6y ago
Can’t you export it to PDF with whatever software you used write the paper? It might not be pixel-perfect like a photocopy, but the words should all be there.
- statstutor 6y ago
  This might misunderstand how science authorship works. I was once congratulated for publishing a paper I had no idea existed, after I gave someone permission to use my research work in exchange for credit. It took me some effort to view a copy of what I had "written".

rirarobo 6y ago

Actually, this depends on the terms defined by each particular journal or conference to which the work is submitted. While things have gotten better in recent years, traditionally even distribution on personal websites is technically not allowed, just selectively enforced, again depending on the venue and even the exposure of the particular work or lab group. When enforcement is more strict, researchers sometimes resort to hosting a draft of their manuscript, and not the final camera ready version. Unfortunately, in many fields open access or even just personal hosting and is still uncommon, and the vast majority of papers remain behind paywalls.

Vinnl 6y ago
Also depends on your jurisdiction. In the Netherlands, researchers are allowed to make their own works available to anyone six months after publication, regardless of their publisher's terms: https://www.openaccess.nl/en/in-the-netherlands/you-share-we-take-care https://www.openaccess.nl/en/in-the-netherlands/you-share-we... Of course, it's not perfect since it still requires work on the part of the author, but all they have to do is give it to a university library and they'll make sure it's available as soon as it's allowed.
- logifail 6y ago
  > all they have to do is give it to a university library Give what? Their permission? The source document (pre-print) that went to the journal? The PDF of the published article?
  - Vinnl 6y ago
    The poster [1] refers to "the published version", so yes, the PDF of the published article. But Dutch researchers who are interested can probably best just get in touch with their library, who I'm sure will be able to tell them exactly what they need. [1] https://www.openaccess.nl/sites/www.openaccess.nl/files/documenten/vsnu_open_acces_6_months-digitale_flyer_eng.pdf https://www.openaccess.nl/sites/www.openaccess.nl/files/docu...