In addition to the sensible advice Stevan gives to secure both the article 
and its metadata and still observe the embargo, please inform SHERPA RoMEO 
of the embargo. It is important to keep that database up-to-date so that any 
author considering a particular publisher knows whether they are as "green" 
as they may appear to be.

Jayne's message also shows the importance for the academic community of use 
by authors of a Licence to Publish, such as that recently made available by 
JISC and SURF, rather than signing away all rights.

Fred Friend
JISC Scholarly Communication Consultant
Honorary Director Scholarly Communication UCL
E-mail [log in to unmask]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Stevan Harnad" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: Dealing with embargoed articles in IRs


> On Wed, 20 Dec 2006, Jayne Burgess wrote:
>
>> Do you put just the bibliographic details into your IR with reference
>> to the embargo period and make a note to edit the record once the embargo
>> has elapsed or do you do nothing and simply wait until the embargo period
>> has elapsed before putting it into the IR?
>
> Definitely deposit both the article and its metadata
> immediately! Definitely do not wait till after the embargo period
> to deposit! (This is also the optimal policy that is being recommended for
> institutional and funder self-archiving mandates.)
>
>   "Optimizing OA Self-Archiving Mandates: What? Where? When? Why? How?"
>   http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/136-guid.html
>   http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/sign.php
>   http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/71-guid.html
> 
> http://www.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/OAworkshop2006/pdfs/NationalOAPolicyDCs.pdf
>
> The metadata will be visible and accessible to all, immediately, so
> any would-be users webwide whose institutions do not happen to have
> subscription/license access to the journal in which the article appears
> can immediately request an individual eprint from the author by email,
> even though the full-text is Closed Access rather than Open Access.
>
> (This simple, almost-immediate procedure has been semi-automated in
> EPrints and DSpace IRs with a button that allows users to cut/paste
> their email addresses [and comments, if they wish] into a box, and then
> to press the button, which sends the author an email eprint request;
> the author receives the request by email, along with a URL, on which
> he need merely click in order to authorize the instant automatic
> emailing of one individual eprint to the requester. Webmetrics are
> collected on the number of eprint requests received for each Closed
> Access deposit during the embargo period, and where they come from;
> these parallel the download metrics for Open Access deposits. This
> "EMAIL EPRINT REQUEST" option is highly effective; it makes authors --
> who are always interested in reprint requests and where they come from
> -- happy; it makes users happy; it is almost-OA, and it tides over the
> embargo period with maximum benefit to research and researchers during
> the all-important growth region for new findings.)
>
>    "Two Happy Accidents Demonstrate Power of "Eprint Request" Button"
>    http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/5823.html
>    http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/167-guid.html
>
>> If the former, do you refer to the embargo period using a metadata field 
>> and if so
>> which one, and do you indicate that the articles are subject to an 
>> embargo period
>> and the length of that period?
>
> The EPrints software allows the length of the embargo to be specified, so 
> the IR
> automatically reverts from Closed Access to Open Access on the appointed 
> date.
>
> There is no reason whatsoever to advertise publishers' embargo policies
> for them!  The button simply indicates that the document in question
> (metadata displayed) is in Closed Access for the time being, but that
> individual copies can be requested from the author via the button.
>
> (Maybe it *would* be a good idea to name-and-shame embargoers! It's
> a trade-off, though, between having that effect, versus entrenching
> and spreading the policy of embargoing. So probably the less said,
> the better. Let the button do the work.)
>
> Stevan Harnad
> AMERICAN SCIENTIST OPEN ACCESS FORUM
> http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/American-Scientist-Open-Access-Forum.html
> http://openaccess.eprints.org/
>