Elsevier does not have copyright of these papers! The authors do. This is not true for the vast majority [1] of papers; for most articles published by Elsevier

Elsevier does not have copyright of these papers! The authors do. This is not true for the vast majority [1] of papers; for most articles published by Elsevier, the authors have to sign away their copyright first. What the parent says applies only to papers published "open access" by Elsevier. Both the links posted by the parent talk about Elsevier's policy for this type of publication. To publish an article as open access, authors [2] have to pay nontrivial sums to Elsevier [3]: For open access articles a fee is payable by the author, their institution or research funder to cover the costs associated with publication. Fees range from $500 - $5000 USD. Visit the individual journal homepages for specific pricing information. Elsevier uses the term "subscription articles" for "regular" articles (where one doesn't have to pay this huge fee). For these regular articles, the authors have to sign away their copyright as part of a "Journal Publishing Agreement" before Elsevier will publish. Here is some sample legalese from a recent such agreement [4]: I hereby assign to Elsevier Inc. the copyright in the manuscript identified above (government authors not electing to transfer agree to assign an exclusive publishing and distribution license) and any supplemental tables, illustrations or other information submitted therewith that are intended for publication as part of the manuscript (the "Article") in all forms and media (whether now known or hereafter developed), throughout the world, in all languages, for the full term of copyright, effective when and if the article is accepted for publication. This transfer includes the right to provide the Article in electronic and online forms and systems. I strongly suspect that the number of articles published "open access" by Elsevier is a minuscule fraction of their total publication, just because there are not many academics who have that kind of money to spend. [1] Admittedly, by my own reckoning; I couldn't find relevant publication numbers online. [2] Or their funding agency, e.g., the institute/department/university/country where the authors work. [3] http://www.elsevier.com/about/open-access/sponsored-articles http://www.elsevier.com/about/open-access/sponsored-articles [4] http://sage.math.washington.edu/home/wstein/www/home/liangzhb/web/papers/YAIMA4483.html http://sage.math.washington.edu/home/wstein/www/home/liangzh... EDIT: Formatting.