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canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

Chemistry World has an article about how the best-selling organic chemistry textbook has become open access [chemistryworld.com]. The 10^th edition of John McMurry's textbook, Organic Chemistry, will be available free-of-charge. It appears likely that it will be under one of the Creative Commons Attribution licenses.

John McMurry’s Organic Chemistry has been one of the best selling chemistry textbooks since it was first printed in 1984. Under his agreement with Cengage Learning, the book’s publisher, McMurry realised he could ask for the book’s copyright to be returned to him 30 years after it was first printed. Without copyright of the first edition, the publisher is unable to produce any more new editions, McMurry notes.

[...] Now McMurry is writing the book’s tenth edition, releasing it for free next summer on OpenStax, an educational technology nonprofit run out of Rice University, US. The book’s ninth, 2015, edition is currently sold for around £70 in the UK and $80 in the US. The upcoming edition - and likely any future editions - will be freely available worldwide as digital download.

Also covered at Cornell University, McMurry makes bestselling chemistry text free in memory of son [cornell.edu], Walled Culture, Best-selling organic chemistry textbook to be freely available, supported by enlightened patronage [walledculture.org], and by OpenStax itself, OpenStax to publish new edition of best-selling organic chemistry textbook — and it will be free for all to use [openstax.org] (warning for javascript).

Previously:
(2021) Sci-Hub Pledges Open Source & AI Alongside Crypto Donation Drive [soylentnews.org]
(2020) On the Disappearance of Open Access Journals Over Time [soylentnews.org]
(2020) Open Access Journals Get A Boost From Librarians—Much To Elsevier's Dismay [soylentnews.org]
(2016) Research Libraries Announce Boycott of Elsevier Journals Over Open Access [soylentnews.org]
(2014) The Importance of Information Preservation [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission