I found that post pretty confusing. It turns out that it’s about control of databases, and i think copyright is a red herring. He wants to run his program over all published papers and find problems with them. He needs permission of the publisher to do this. He claims that his interpretation of the boiler-plate license doesn’t allow that. I think he’s mistaken and that in any event he could get permission if he asked. What he really wants to do (from other posts on the blog), that he definitely couldn’t get permission for, is to synthesize the literature into a database of chemicals; which the publishers won’t allow because they do that by hand.
Also, the title (which you didn’t quote) is nonsense. There is no legal obstacle to the editor or referee using computers on new papers, which is the usual meaning of “referee.” The problem there is getting the editor to try something new and to put in the necessary effort. Maybe it’s easier for this guy to run his software on all papers ever written than to convince lots of editors to run it ahead of time, but difficulty is not a legal difficulty. Everyone would love it if these mistakes were caught in the refereeing process, rather than after the fact.
He claims that his interpretation of the boiler-plate license doesn’t allow that. I think he’s mistaken and that in any event he could get permission if he asked.
I think his post is effectively asking in a guess culture way. He wants that the publishers respond and say that their broad license doesn’t limit what he’s doing.
What he really wants to do (from other posts on the blog), that he definitely couldn’t get permission for, is to synthesize the literature into a database of chemicals; which the publishers won’t allow because they do that by hand.
Only the American Chemical Society (ACS) does that. The are also registered as a non-profit. The fact that they fight the advancement of science is a huge tragedy.
Only the American Chemical Society (ACS) does that.
He explicitly mentions an Elsevier database as the reason that he’s worried about mining Elsevier data.
I think his post is effectively asking in a guess culture way. He wants that the publishers respond and say that their broad license doesn’t limit what he’s doing.
There is some of that in other posts on the blog. But that particular post is about images. He can’t just click “agree” and do what he wants, but he has to explicitly ask them about every image project.
I found that post pretty confusing. It turns out that it’s about control of databases, and i think copyright is a red herring. He wants to run his program over all published papers and find problems with them. He needs permission of the publisher to do this. He claims that his interpretation of the boiler-plate license doesn’t allow that. I think he’s mistaken and that in any event he could get permission if he asked. What he really wants to do (from other posts on the blog), that he definitely couldn’t get permission for, is to synthesize the literature into a database of chemicals; which the publishers won’t allow because they do that by hand.
Also, the title (which you didn’t quote) is nonsense. There is no legal obstacle to the editor or referee using computers on new papers, which is the usual meaning of “referee.” The problem there is getting the editor to try something new and to put in the necessary effort. Maybe it’s easier for this guy to run his software on all papers ever written than to convince lots of editors to run it ahead of time, but difficulty is not a legal difficulty. Everyone would love it if these mistakes were caught in the refereeing process, rather than after the fact.
I think his post is effectively asking in a guess culture way. He wants that the publishers respond and say that their broad license doesn’t limit what he’s doing.
Only the American Chemical Society (ACS) does that. The are also registered as a non-profit. The fact that they fight the advancement of science is a huge tragedy.
He explicitly mentions an Elsevier database as the reason that he’s worried about mining Elsevier data.
There is some of that in other posts on the blog. But that particular post is about images. He can’t just click “agree” and do what he wants, but he has to explicitly ask them about every image project.