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Articles in BES journals to be accessible to all after two years
The British Ecological Society is committed to making ecological research as accessible as possible and the Council has therefore decided to make the electronic version of papers published via Blackwell Synergy (i.e. since 1998) freely available to all two years after publication. We must also do our best to protect the income from journal subscriptions, which is vitally important for the long-term viability of the organisation. Ecological papers have value over a long time-scale, and we believe that, in most cases, two years is an appropriate delay before free access is allowed. Abstracts are, of course, immediately open to all, and the electronic offprint (pdf) supplied to authors can be freely shared with colleagues. In addition, authors who wish to do so can pay a fee to make the full article free to all as soon as it is published.
Making articles in its four journals (Journal of Ecology, Journal of Applied Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology and Functional Ecology) free after two years is an effective way of fulfilling the Society’s duty to promote the science of ecology at a time when public opinion favours ever easier access. Current evidence suggests that, at least in the short to medium term, it should remain possible to derive income from selling subscriptions to our journals, and thus fulfil our other charitable functions, but we will need to keep the situation under review over the coming years.
To access these articles, simply go to www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/xxx, where xxx is jec (for Journal of Ecology), jpe (for Journal of Applied Ecology), jae (for Journal of Animal Ecology) or fec (for Functional Ecology) and follow the green 'free' links.
Please note that pre-1998 content was digitised by JSTOR and is available to BES members who subscribe to our low-cost e-journals package.
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