May 1, 2012 – Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press announced today new licensing arrangements with authors of articles published in its journal Genome Research. With immediate effect, authors will retain ownership of copyright and license the exclusive publication of these articles to the journal for 6 months after publication. After this period, these papers will be made freely available under a Creative Commons License.
Articles published in Genome Research can already be read without restriction at the journal's website six months after publication and copies of these articles are deposited with the National Library of Medicine's database PubMedCentral. The Press also makes its journals available free of charge online to scientists in developing countries through the HINARI and AGORA projects.
Dr. John Inglis, Publisher and Executive Director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, commented: "This new policy makes more straightforward the reuse, remixing, and adaptation of information that is increasingly required for conducting research in genome sciences, so the adoption of this policy will better serve the community in its goal of scientific discovery."
The new policy, taking effect today in conjunction with publication of the May issue of Genome Research, allows authors to reproduce, post, and reuse their article, provided its original publication in Genome Research is fully acknowledged. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press will exclusively distribute articles for six months following the full-issue publication date, and after six months the community at large will now be able to reuse material from the published article under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License). Articles that authors choose to publish immediately as Open Access will be immediately available for reuse under the Creative Commons License.
Dr. Hillary Sussman, Executive Editor of Genome Research added, "Genome Research is dedicated to the needs and interests of the genome sciences community. In this vein, we have set the standards for data quality and accessibility and currently offer both an Open Access option and rapid publication of accepted preprints to improve the both the author and user experience. We expect that making content available under these new licensing terms will simplify reuse for our authors and readers and further enhance the utility of our content in benefitting society."
All authors of Genome Research articles previously transferred copyright to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. They now have the right to reuse their published article provided they acknowledge the original publication. The Creative Commons License applies retroactively to all articles published in Genome Research before December 1, 2011.
About Genome Research:
Launched in 1995, Genome Research is an international, continuously published, peer-reviewed journal that focuses on research that provides novel insights into the genome biology of all organisms, including advances in genomic medicine. Among the topics considered by the journal are genome structure and function, comparative genomicsmolecular evolution, genome-scale quantitative and population genetics, proteomics, epigenomics, and systems biology. The journal also features exciting gene discoveries and reports of cutting-edge computational biology and high-throughput methodologies.
About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is a private, nonprofit institution in New York that conducts research in cancer and other life sciences and has a variety of educational programs. Its Press, originating in 1933, is the largest of the Laboratory's five education divisions and is a publisher of books, journals, and electronic media for scientists, students, and the general public.
For more information about Creative Commons, visit http://creativecommons.org.
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