Information regarding perpetual access to subscriptions purchased the previous years.

As it is already known the subscriptions of journals of HEAL-Link have not been updated. As a result a number of publishers have cut access not only to content published in 2013 but also to content published in previous years for which they have already been paid. According to the licence agreements, members of HEAL-Link are entitled to have perpetual access to purchased content.

We would like to inform users of HEAL-Link services that publishers are not oblidged to provide access to previous years through their websites if license agreement are not renewed. HEAL-Link, having foreseen such issues, was one of the first members of PORTICO service. But in order to activate PORTICO service, which will provide access to years that have already been purchased, the following requirements should be met:

1. Publishers should officially be informed that HEAL-Link will not renew the licence agreements.
   This has not been done because intensive efforts are made, in conjunction with our members and the ministry, to renew the licence agreements.
2. In case a license agreement is not renewed, and, the corresponding publisher, after being informed, informs PORTICO service, which requires 50 days to open access in order to verify the data.
3. Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, Scopus and WilsonWeb do not provide perpetual access. Access is allowed only during the years of the licence agreement.