The “Green Route” to Open Access

Today received an update from ResearchGATE. Did not yet participate in this scientific network, already a member of a lot of networks such as Connotea, CiteULike, Mendeley, can’t keep up with them.
But yesterday got sensitized by Sciencebase: File Sharing for Scientists about this network.

So what’s up?
They have launched a Self-Archiving Repository. This will make free full-text articles available to the public.

Currently, there is no way for researchers to access millions of publications in their full version online. ResearchGATE is now changing this by enabling users to upload their published research directly to their profile pages (a system called the “green route” to Open Access). Our publication index, containing metadata for 35 million publications, will be automatically matched with the SHERPA RoMEO data set of journal and publisher’s self-archiving agreements. As a result, authors will know which versions of their articles they can legally upload. Since nine out of ten journals allow self-archiving, this project could give thousands of researchers immediate access to articles that are not yet freely available.

Each profile page in this network, your own personal profile page is considered to be a personal website of the user. The majority of publishers allow articles to be openly accessible on personal homepages. Each user can upload his published article which is searchable resulting in a large pool of research for the members of this network. Waiting for a law to prohibit this but until than, Elsevier and the like eat your heart out.