Tip for publishers: author's final copy

There are two reasons why it is in the publishers' best interests to provide the author with a final, peer-reviewed, proof-read copy for the institutional repository (which need not be the final pdf). First and most important, this will ensure that readers are not confused and potentially misled by different versions - the formatting might be different, but the content will be just as authoritative.

Secondly, this makes it possible for publishers to include a link to the journal in the authors' final copy, which, I would suggest, is in the publishers' best interest. Authors will be pointing people to their institutional repository and/or other open access copies, simply because this is more convenient.

For example, if I want to point people to all my recent works, I can do so with one link to the SFU Institutional Repository, at:
http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/79/items-by-author?author=Morrison%2C+Heather

This is much more convenient for the author than assembling a list of links to a variety of publisher and conference websites. It's no wonder that the authors who publish the most are the first to move to self-archiving, as Dr. Swan's recent research has uncovered.

If a publisher were to provide me with a final proof-read copy, complete with bibliographic citation information and a link to the journal, that would be very convenient for me, and I would be very much inclined to submit this version to the IR.

cheers,

Heather G. Morrison

They hang the man and flog the woman
That steal the goose from off the common.
But let the greater villain loose
That steals the common from the goose.
-Folk poem, circa 1764
from: David Bollier. Reclaiming the American Commons.
http://www.bollier.org/reclaim.htm

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ca/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Originally posted to the SPARC Open Access Forum, July 12, 2005.

This post reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent the opinions or policy of the BC Electronic Library Network or the Simon Fraser University Library.