CEO DATELINE - Chemical society praises agreement on publishing research papers online
CEO DATELINE - Chemical society praises agreement on publishing research papers online
- September 18, 2017 |
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Walt Williams
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The American Chemical Society is praising an agreement reached between an international scientific society and a social network that publishes research papers online—an issue that has landed ACS in court.
The U.K.-based International Association of Scientific Technical and Medical Publishers announced Friday it had reached an agreement with social networking site ResearchGate to share copyrighted research papers appearing in the association's member publications.
More than 140 scientific, technical, medical and scholarly publications belong to the association, according to a statement by the group. ResearchGate is a site where scientists and other researchers can share findings, comment on the research of others and collaborate on projects.
A host of websites have appeared online in recent years allowing internet users to view and download research papers only otherwise accessible by subscription. In June, ACS announced it had sued one of the most popular sites, Sci-Hub, a Russia-based operation the association alleged steals and reproduces copyrighted research.
ACS is seeking at least $4.8 million in damages from Sci-Hub. At the same time, the group pointed to the agreement with ResearchGate as an example of the collaboration that can take place in compliance with copyright laws.
The agreement allows the reproduction of research papers "in a manner consistent with whatever access and usage rights have been agreed upon between authors and the scientific journals in which they have published," ACS said in a statement. "At the same time, the proposed solution would enable authors to share their published research with interested colleagues in a seamless way." http://bit.ly/2xKl6eZ
The society's lawsuit against Sci-Hub is pending in U.S. district court. However, a similar lawsuit brought by science publisher Elsevier led to a $15 million judgment against Sci-Hub and other alleged pirate sites in June. http://go.nature.com/2xKnkLH
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