The Winding Path to Deciding If I Can Upload an Old Article to ResearchGate

Back in 1993, a colleague and I wrote an article that I later thought was prescient. It involved online library catalogs and in it I suggested that catalog users be able to leave comments on books they had read. Sounds absolutely commonplace now, but back in 1993, it definitely wasn't. I'd have to go back and read the article again to see exactly what else I contributed to it, and if perhaps there are more things that later came to pass—though obviously not because of my suggestions.

The question I grappled with yesterday was whether I could scan and upload the article to ResearchGate, so it has a chance to be read by others. At first I thought it might be available online, but it isn't.  I am not in a big rush since my copy of the journal issue is in my office--I place I haven't been in quite some time.

The decision-making process about whether I could upload a copy to a platform other than my institution's repository had a number of complicating factors.

• The journal, Research Strategies: RS, ceased publication in 2006 (though the last issue seems to have been from 2005)
• Initially, until 1997, it was published independently of a major publisher
• From 1997-2005, it was published by Elsevier
• Only the 1997-2005 content appears in Science Direct
• Elsevier provides guidance on how articles in their journals can be shared, but this wasn't yet their journal.

Without my actual issue in hand, I can't confirm who published the journal originally (I suppose I could do some online research, but this isn't really a pressing issue. I'll look at it when I get back in my office), but I think the editor was also the publisher. Probably not the route to the answer.

I finally decided that this question was too complex for my limited understanding of author's rights. I passed it on to my scholarly communications colleague at the library. Maybe it will be easier for her! And I know that I can submit it to my institution's scholarly repository. Then I could provide a link in ResearchGate. I should have thought of this earlier.

The article in question:

Trudi E. Jacobson and Lynne M. Martin, “Merging Critical Thinking and the Electronic Library: A Visionary Perspective of SuperPAC, an Enhanced OPAC.”  Research Strategies, v.11 no.3, Summer 1993, pp. 138-149.