New free journal from Springer

Neuroethics is a new peer-reviewed journal from Springer.  Instead of using Springer's Open Choice hybrid model, it will offer free online access to all its articles, at least for 2008 and 2009.  (Thanks to Adam Kolber.)

The page on instructions for authors says nothing about publication fees.  It does, however, require authors to transfer copyright to Springer, which it justifies by saying, "This will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information under copyright laws."  For the moment I'm less interested in the incorrectness of this statement than in the fact that Springer's hybrid journals use an equivalent of the CC-BY license.  It looks like Springer is experimenting with a new access model:  free online access for all articles in a journal (hence, not hybrid); no publication fees; but no reuse rights beyond fair use.  The copyright transfer agreement permits self-archiving of the published version of the text but not the published PDF.

Also see my post last week on Springer's new Evolution: Education and Outreach, with a similar access policy but a few confusing wrinkles of its own.