Petition: Restore Free and Open Access to the ACM Digital Library(ipetitions.com)
ipetitions.com
Petition: Restore Free and Open Access to the ACM Digital Library
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/restore-fully-free-and-open-access
2 comments
Background: In recent years, the DL has always provided fully free
and open access to features based on bibliometric data and other
metadata associated with ACM publications, and the DL has allowed
anyone to post comments on publications. ... Author Profile pages
collected and published the complete works of individual authors at a
single stable URL; many authors treated their ACM DL Author Profile
page as a CV, trusting the DL to maintain it in perpetuity and
publish it without restriction.
In late December 2025, these previously free and open DL facilities became "Premium Access" features.
Good grief. And here I was thinking ACM had actually done a Good Thing with their move to Open Access. But looking at this, and considering also the hefty publication fees they charge for publishing said Open Access papers, it's hard to see anything positive about ACM right now. It's really making me question if I can justify continuing to maintain an ACM membership TBH.
Here's hoping enough pressure emerges to motivate a change on this.
In late December 2025, these previously free and open DL facilities became "Premium Access" features.
Good grief. And here I was thinking ACM had actually done a Good Thing with their move to Open Access. But looking at this, and considering also the hefty publication fees they charge for publishing said Open Access papers, it's hard to see anything positive about ACM right now. It's really making me question if I can justify continuing to maintain an ACM membership TBH.
Here's hoping enough pressure emerges to motivate a change on this.
I am a member of the ACM Publications Board, and I have brought the petition to the attention of the Publications and Digital Libraries boards at the ACM. I hope they will make changes.