From: Kathleen Shearer <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2015 17:12:55 -0400 Hi Rick, Of course, the ultimate goal is to have 100% immediate open access. This will maximum use, impact and (therefore) benefits of our collective investments in research. As you know, many OA policies have employed the use of embargo periods to help protect publishers’ subscription revenue as they shift to new business models. We consider the use of embargo periods as an acceptable transitional mechanism to help facilitate a wholesale shift towards Open Access. That said, embargo periods dilute the benefits of open access policies and we believe that, if they are adopted, they should be no more than 6 months for the life and physical sciences, 12 months for social sciences and humanities. We further believe that mechanisms for reducing – or eliminating – embargo periods should be included in Open Access policies. Best, Kathleen Kathleen Shearer Executive Director, Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) [log in to unmask] Skype: kathleenshearer2 - twitter: @KathleeShearer On May 30, 2015, at 11:34 PM, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote: From: Rick Anderson <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 29 May 2015 13:17:13 +0000 One sentence in COAR’s Statement Against Elsevier’s Sharing Policy ( ) stands out to me in particular: “Any delay in the open availability of research articles curtails scientific progress and places unnecessary constraints on delivering the benefits of research back to the public.” This is quite a remarkable statement — what’s it saying is that any access model that involves anything less than a) immediate and universal free access under b) any terms other than CC BY is unacceptable. In practice, this would seem to be a call for the abolishment of toll access entirely. If so, that’s fine, but it seems like we shouldn’t be coy about it — can anyone from COAR clarify whether this was the intent of the language in question? And if not, then was this language included by accident? --- Rick Anderson Assoc. Dean for Scholarly Resources & Collections Marriott Library, University of Utah [log in to unmask]