From: Ann Shumelda Okerson <
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Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2016 14:58:38 -0400
Making the rounds for the last couple of days is news about the patent awarded to Elsevier for its "cascading" method. Controversy about how patent-worth this really is or should be. Of possible interest.
Chronicle of Higher Education:https://shar.es/1wJj1eElsevier’s New Patent for Online Peer Review Throws a Scare Into Open-Source Advocates
"Patents on software can be controversial. And often, so is the company Elsevier, the giant journal publisher. So when word hit the internet starting on Tuesday night that Elsevier had just been awarded a patent for an "online peer-review system and method," reaction from people aligned with the publishing and open-source worlds came swiftly on Twitter and in other online venues, much of it reflecting suspicion about the company’s motives.
[SNIP]
"The concern revolves around the patent Elsevier received for its five-year-old "article-transfer service," a propriety online system the company uses to manage journal-article submissions and the ensuing peer reviews.
"The service also includes a feature that allows articles rejected by one of the company’s 2,500 journals to be automatically referred to another relevant Elsevier journal for consideration, with the authors’ consent. The patent describes the driver of the referral system as a "journal-recommendation tool."
Electronic Frontier Foundation:https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/08/stupid-patent-month-elsevier-patents-online-peer-reviewStupid Patent of the Month: Elsevier Patents Online Peer Review
.."We hope that Elsevier will not be aggressive in its own interpretation of the patent’s scope. Unfortunately, its early statements suggest it does take an expansive view of the patent. F or example, an Elsevier representative tweeted, "There is no need for concern regarding the patent. It’s simply meant to protect our own proprietary waterfall system from being copied." But the waterfall system, aka cascading peer review, was known years before Elsevier filed its patent application. It cannot claim to own that process."
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