Petition: Restore Free and Open Access to the ACM Digital Library(www.ipetitions.com)
14 pointsby underscoreF15 hours ago1 comment
  • mindcrime14 hours ago
    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.