Embargo (academic publishing)

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In academic publishing, an embargo is a period during which access is not allowed to certain types of users. The purpose of this is to protect the revenue of the publisher.

Various types exist:

• a moving wall is a fixed period of months or years,
• a fixed date is a particular time point that does not change.
• a current year (or other period) is setting a time point on Jan. 1 of the current year, so that all material earlier than that is available. Though fixed during the year, it will change each year.

There are various purposes:

• In Delayed open access, the embargo separates the most recent period, for which a subscription is needed, from an older period, where a subscription is not needed and anyone may access the article. This is usually between 2 months and 5 years.
• In full-text databases, such as Ebsco or Proquest, it separates the most recent period, where only a title or abstract is available, from an older one, which is openly accessible. It also separates the relatively recent period for which sometimes only a low-quality copy, such as ASCII is available, from an older one, which may have higher quality versions, such as PDF.