Nature makes all articles free to view by Richard Van Noorden.
From the post:
All research papers from Nature will be made free to read in a proprietary screen-view format that can be annotated but not copied, printed or downloaded, the journal’s publisher Macmillan announced on 2 December.
The content-sharing policy, which also applies to 48 other journals in Macmillan’s Nature Publishing Group (NPG) division, including Nature Genetics, Nature Medicine and Nature Physics, marks an attempt to let scientists freely read and share articles while preserving NPG’s primary source of income — the subscription fees libraries and individuals pay to gain access to articles.
ReadCube, a software platform similar to Apple’s iTunes, will be used to host and display read-only versions of the articles’ PDFs. If the initiative becomes popular, it may also boost the prospects of the ReadCube platform, in which Macmillan has a majority investment.
Annette Thomas, chief executive of Macmillan Science and Education, says that under the policy, subscribers can share any paper they have access to through a link to a read-only version of the paper’s PDF that can be viewed through a web browser. For institutional subscribers, that means every paper dating back to the journal’s foundation in 1869, while personal subscribers get access from 1997 on.
Anyone can subsequently repost and share this link. Around 100 media outlets and blogs will also be able to share links to read-only PDFs. Although the screen-view PDF cannot be printed, it can be annotated — which the publisher says will provide a way for scientists to collaborate by sharing their comments on manuscripts. PDF articles can also be saved to a free desktop version of ReadCube, similarly to how music files can be saved in iTunes.
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I am hopeful that Macmillan will discover that allowing copying and printing are no threat to its income stream. Both are means of advertising for its journal at the expense of the user who copies a portion of the text for a citation or shares a printed copy with a colleague. Advertising paid for by users should be considered as a plus.
The annotation step is a good one, although I would modify it in some respects. First I would make all articles accessible by default with annotation capabilities. Then I would grant anyone who registers say 12 comments per year for free and offer a lower-than-subscription-cost option for more than twelve comments on articles.
If there is one thing I suspect users would be willing to pay for is the right to response to others in their fields. Either to response to articles and/or to other comments. Think of it as a pay-to-say market strategy.
It could be an “additional” option to current institutional and personal subscriptions and thus an entirely new revenue stream for Macmillan.
To head off expected objections by “free speech” advocates, I note that no journal publishes every letter to the editor. The right to free speech has never included the right to be heard on someone else’s dime. Annotation of Nature is on Macmillan’s dime.