Hi everyone,

I agree about the Byzantine ways of Zootaxa when it comes to receiving payment for and shipping the goods they sell. On the other hand, you’ll find that quite a few articles are posted on their web site are there under the “open acess” system. That means that, after browsing and deciding that you’d like to keep a copy of that article in your hard-drive, you will be able to download a free PDF at no cost (instructions below.)

The open access system requires that, in addition to the eventual publication and reprint costs, the author(s) should pay $20 per page to allow anyone free access to the article. Cost becomes a limiting factor to open access as the article gets bigger. (I published an 18-pager in Zootaxa in 2008, and posted it under the open access system; if that paper were 180 pages instead of 18, I wouldn’t be able to do it.)

To take a glimpse at all molluscan articles that are posted in the Zootaxa web site under the open access system:

1. Log on to www.mapress.com/zootaxa;

2. Click on "Mollusca" under the heading “[Hot!!] Most-accessed Zootaxa”

3. Look for articles that have the icon “open access” highlighted in a blue text box.

They are all yours.

Cheers,

José
________________________________________________________
José H. Leal, Ph.D., Director and Curator
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor, The Nautilus
www.shellmuseum.org

3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road
Sanibel, FL 33957 USA
(239)395-2233
fax (239)395-6706
 Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail



________________________________________
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Fabio Moretzsohn
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 2:43 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] For bibliophiles and shellers

Hi Tom and all

I did not realize that ordering a paper copy from Zootaxa was that difficult and expensive. They surely should make it easier for readers to purchase papers, for example accepting credit cards or something like PayPal.

Regarding PDFs, however, most journals that have an online version, like Zootaxa, often provide the author with a PDF that he/she can forward to others upon request, although the author cannot post the PDF on a website (different journals have different rules on how how long before this can happen). If you write an email to the corresponding author, usually they will be happy to send you a free PDF of their paper. Perhaps that's why the journals charge so much if you want to buy the article.

It seems that as more people use electronic reprints (in PDF), the less authors buy paper reprints to send to colleagues and those who request them.

Fabio M.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------