I sense a pattern from those who have contacted me off-list - they are part of a consortia deal, we are not.  Can an institution not in a consortia deal check and see if they are being asked for individual registrations?  And maybe BMJ could let us know if there is a policy they have introduced for those with individual journal subscriptions only?  I have tried Gut and Journal of neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry so far and anything before 2006 is asking for us to register.

Thanks
Louise

-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lesley Crawshaw
Sent: 03 April 2007 16:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: IMPORTANT NOTICE - BMJ JOURNAL ARCHIVE ACCESS CHANGES


Hi,

Thanks for pointing this out Louise. 

I had spotted that one of the backfiles was now fully online when we were working yesterday with this publisher's journals on Serials Solutions. Contrary to what the Serials Solutions knowledgebase said we noticed that the Journal of Clinical Pathology had all the issues online and that we could access the full text of articles in the very first issue. I did email our contact at BMJ Publishing to ask if we had rights to access the full archive of this journal and then the announcement appeared on various lists. I have to admit I hadn't fully read the announcement and didn't see the information on registration. 

I have to say I more than confused as to why I can access BMJ Publishing Journals that are more than a year old without the need for a username and password. I've managed to get into the very first article of Journal of Clinical Pathology without any request to register. Is this because we are part of the UK NESLi2 deal for BMJ Publishing journals? 

I certainly think it's a very bad idea if institutions whose IPs are already registered should have their users required to register separately. I understand that the idea behind registration is that the publisher can see who is using the archive. Surely since the publisher already has a good idea who is using their journals via institutional IP (or ATHENS) authentication, then these users should be excluded from this registration? I wouldn't have thought this would be a difficult process to implement?

I would certainly urge the publisher to reconsider this policy in relation to institutional users. I am not aware of any other publisher that has gone down the route of requiring users to register in order to access open access material. It isn't something we would want to encourage either. 

Finally, I just wanted to congratulate the publisher for making these archives free to all. I think that although it has had to give up the possibility of all that extra dosh that comes from selling archives, the increased usage that will come as a result of these open access archives will more than make up for it. It also continues the spirit of those many Highwire societies/publishers (and many others) who have also chosen to make their archives free to all. It's just a real pity that the positive aspects of this announcement have been tainted by the issue of registration.

Cheers
Lesley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lesley Crawshaw, Faculty Information Consultant, 
Learning and Information Services 
University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: [log in to unmask]
phone: 01707 284662 fax: 01707 284666
list owner: [log in to unmask]  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Louise Cole
Sent: 03 April 2007 15:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: IMPORTANT NOTICE - BMJ JOURNAL ARCHIVE ACCESS CHANGES

I'd like to comment on this new policy.

First of all, we have had next to no notice of it.  Result: a high number of queries today from staff and students asking 'what's the password' and 'why don't I have access'?

Going back to an individual username and password for each person to access is ridiculous and is in complete contrast to what most institutions are trying to achieve, i.e. single or reduced sign on between resources.

I appreciate that most BMJ journals have issues freely available after 12 months.  However current subscribers (who are known by IP address) surely should not be penalised in this way, effectively having to log in and be authenticated more than once, depending on where they are based? (I suppose we should consider current content as 12 months from publication regardless of contracts going back further ...?)

I know that BMJ need to monitor who is accessing their archives - and releasing archive back to the first issue is a major achievement - but why do it this way?  Do they really need to know every single person who accesses material (poor staff and students who now need to go through the process of registration AND remembering yet another username and password when all they wanted was to check some research and get on with their lives ...).

I'm also not happy with the fact that we have had to change internal procedures without any notice, including providing our customers with information on this new registration policy, where we can.

It is treating institutional subscriptions just the same as individual ones, and I for one don't like it.  Individual subscribers to a journal may be happy to register for access, but an institution purchases on behalf of all staff and students, who expect to be able to get into journal content quickly and without unnecessary complications.  That's what IP access is for!

Thanks - just needed to get that out of my system!  I'd be interested to know what others think.

Louise

Louise Cole
Electronic Resources Team Leader
Health Sciences Library
Level 7 Worsley Building
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
 
Tel: 0113 34 35502
Fax: 0113 34 34381
 
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ingrid Walsh
Sent: 02 April 2007 13:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: IMPORTANT NOTICE - BMJ JOURNAL ARCHIVE ACCESS CHANGES



***IMPORTANT NOTICE - CHANGES TO BMJ JOURNAL ARCHIVE ACCESS***

Over the coming months we will be releasing the full back archive of our 23 journals, all the way back to Volume 1, Issue 1. That's over 4800 issues! And guess what? They're free! The first journal to be released will be Journal of Clinical Pathology (and its Molecular Pathology
edition) on 2nd April. So from that date, you'll need to register with us to browse all articles over 12 months old.

As well as maintaining access to our archive, you can also use the folders feature, allowing you to save interesting articles and searches in a personalised folder. You can also sign up to receive new alerts.

Registration is easy; fill in the online form and you'll immediately be free to search the archive as usual. You'll only need to register once and we promise not to share your details with people if you don't want us to.

If you've registered with us in the past, or you have a journal subscription, you'll just need to sign in as usual.* You can use the 'Remember me' feature on the site or your browser to sign in automatically.

If you haven't registered for this site yet, visit http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/register?jnl now.

Regards

BMJ Journals marketing team

* Forgotten your password or want to update your details? http://journals.bmj.com/subscriptions/manage.shtml?jnl

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