Hi there!
The APA requirements for posting a prepublication-print – needing a particular statement displayed in addition to the more traditional link to the version of record – got me wondering if they accept manuscripts that have been posted as preprints (PsycArXiv, bioRxiv, etc.). So I completed their email form and received an answer the same day. Sounds like they don’t a formal policy and probably don’t accept such items. Here’s the response I received:
“Thank you for your message. Although APA supports the sharing of manuscripts, to my knowledge, APA does not have a formal policy regarding preprint servers. Authors would need to disclose this at the time of submission and it would be up to the journal editor to decide whether he or she considered the manuscript to be previously published. With that said, we do not have a list of journals that will accept such a manuscript.
Best regards,
Richard Pepple | Senior Journal Production Manager Office of Publications & Databases | (202) 336-5666 | [log in to unmask] American Psychological Association
750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242 www.apa.org “
I’ve checked in with the psychology faculty here and they’ve heard about what’s going on and shared some discussion from listserves. But the folks here at Hopkins don’t seem to be too excited by this.
Robin
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Robin N Sinn
Scholarly Communications Specialist
Sheridan Libraries
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore MD 21218
From: Anali Perry <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 19:02:06 +0000
Hi everyone,
The American Psychological Association started a “pilot program” issuing takedown notices to authors who had posted the final published pdfs of their articles on personal websites, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu (among other sites).
To be perfectly clear, APA is operating well within their rights here– authors did sign an agreement granting APA copyright to their works, and APA grants back the right for authors to archive their final accepted manuscript (or post prints), but not the final version of record. However, the step of issuing these notices directly to authors is unusual, since it dispels the illusion that they still have the rights to share their work however they like, especially on scholarly social networks. This makes them more likely to re-evaluate their publishing options.
Here are a few sources for commentary:
· The Scientist - Authors Peeved by APA’s article Takedown Pilot
· Retraction Watch: Researchers protest publisher’s orders to remove papers from their websites
· Update: a member of the APA board of directors, Ian Gutierrez, tweeted today that APA will suspend this program, but the formal announcement has not yet been posted.
Get out the popcorn and enjoy!
Anali Maughan Perry
Associate Librarian - Collections & Scholarly Communication
ASU Library