American Physical Society Makes Journals Free--In U.S. Public Libraries
By Norman Oder Jul 29, 2010In an unusual twist on the move to free public access to journals, the American Physical Society (APS) will make all content in its nine journals back to 1893 free to in-building readers at participating U.S. public libraries.
The collection includes more than 400,000 scientific research papers—likely not high-demand items for public library patrons but perhaps of long-tail interest to some.
"Public libraries have long played a central role in our country's intellectual life," said APS Publisher Joseph Serene, "and we hope that through this initiative they will become an important avenue for the general public to reach our research journals, which until now have been available only through the subscriptions at research institutions that currently cover the significant costs of peer review and online publication."
Serene and Associate Publisher Barbara Hicks told LJ they believe APS is the first publisher to provide such access.
How it will work
Librarians can obtain access by signing an online site license and providing valid IP addresses of public-use computers in their libraries. The license does not provide remote access. While the program will start with U.S. public libraries, it may be extended to other countries.
Does APS anticipate much usage? Serene and Hicks couldn't say.
Do they expect use mainly at public libraries that subscribe to academic research aggregators? Not necessarily, but maybe, they responded.
While academic researchers at campuses that do not subscribe to APS journals might find themselves at public libraries, APS has no plans to extend free access to campuses.
The APS, which represents nearly 48,000 physicists in academia and industry worldwide, currently offers online-only and print+online subscriptions, as well as pay-for-view articles.
Open access program
In 2006, APS launched the FREE TO READ open access initiative, in which anyone (authors, readers, institutions, funding agencies, etc.) could pay a fee to make articles published in Physical Review A-E, Physical Review Letters, and Reviews of Modern Physics freely available.
(The fee has remained steady: $975 for articles in Physical Review A-E and $1300 for Letters in Physical Review Letters; articles in Reviews of Modern Physics are considered on a case-by-case basis.)
The uptake has been slow. While APS publishes more than 18,000 articles per year, 324 papers have been made Free to Read (174 paid, 150 made open by APS).
FRPAA intersection
The FRPAA (Federal Research Public Access Act) is pending in Congress; should it pass, it would require that research funded by federal agencies be made available within six months.
How much APS content might qualify? "Our journals are very international but there are approximately 27 percent with a U.S. author/coauthor that would be subject to FRPAA," the APS representatives said.
