From: NISO <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 11:26:17 -0500


NISO Publishes Recommended Practice on Metadata Indicators for
Accessibility and Licensing of E-Content

The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has published a
new Recommended Practice on Access License and Indicators (NISO
RP-22-2015) that defines metadata to be used to indicate free-to-read
content and a link to license terms for the use/re-use of that
content. Developed by the NISO Working Group on Access License and
Indicators (formerly Open Access Metadata and Indicators), the
recommended practice proposes the adoption of two core pieces of
metadata and associated tags: <free_to_read> and <license_ref>. The
first tag would indicate that the work is freely accessible during the
specified timeframe (if applicable). The second tag would contain a
reference to a URI that carries the license terms specifying how a
work may be used.

“Publishers provide articles that are “free to read” under a wide
range of re-use terms and licenses,” explains Cameron Neylon, Advocacy
Director, PLOS, and Co-chair of the NISO Access License and Indicators
Working Group. “Currently, publishers of hybrid journals have no
simple mechanism for signaling the “free to read” status of specific
articles or the re-use rights of downstream users. Funders find the
lack of information and cooperation between stakeholders creates
difficulty in determining whether a specific published article is
compliant with their policies. Authors have difficulty confirming
whether they are compliant with a given funder policy. Readers face
the burden of figuring out what they can and cannot do with specific
articles. Aggregators and platform or knowledgebase providers have no
consistent mechanism for machine-processing metadata and identifying
the accessibility or rights status. Adoption of <free_to_read> and
<license_ref> metadata designations will allow both humans and
machines to assess the status of content.”

 “The combination of the two metadata tags can particularly be useful
in indicating the subtle nuances of different Open Access content,”
states Greg Tananbaum, Consultant at SPARC and Co-chair of the NISO
Access License and Indicators Working Group. “The indicators include a
date component so that content with access and re-use rights that
change over time can be adequately understood. This supports the
existing embargo practices in use by some publishers. By including
URIs to applicable licenses in the metadata, more detailed
explanations of rights can be made available.”

“The recommended metadata tags can easily be incorporated into
existing metadata distribution channels, encoded in XML, and added to
existing schemas and workflows,” said Ed Pentz, Executive Director,
CrossRef, and Co-chair of the NISO Access License and Indicators
Working Group. “Publishers and platform providers can also use the
<free_to_read> tag to automate the display of appropriate status icons
to users and for signaling or determining compliance with most funder
and institutional policies.”

“Adoption of these two metadata indicators can have a significant
positive impact on all the participants in the scholarly
communications chain,” stated Todd Carpenter, NISO Executive Director.
“This NISO Recommended Practice also complements a number of other
related efforts, including the CrossRef FundRef service; the HowOpen
Is It? guide developed by PLOS, SPARC, and OASPA; EDItEUR’s ONIX-PL
specification for communicating licensing term; and the Linked Content
Coalition initiative.”

Access and License Indicators (NISO RP-22-2015) is available for free
download from the ALI Working Group webpage on the NISO website at:

www.niso.org/workrooms/ali/.


Cynthia Hodgson
Technical Editor / Consultant
National Information Standards Organization
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