Recently I wrote to you outlining the change to section 9b of the Crossref membership agreement, which allows for more efficient distribution of metadata, which in turn helps to increase discoverability of your content. Following that we would like to notify you of the updated board policy with respect to reference distribution.

Members deposit references with Crossref to enable the Cited-by service. References are treated differently than all other metadata in how they are distributed. Some members have recently decided to make their references open and references have also been distributed as part of "Enhanced Crossref Metadata Services" for many years, which was subject to a case-by-case opt-out that has now been phased out. As part of our new metadata delivery options the board has approved a new, clearer policy on references.

This new policy will not change how you register content, nor will it affect your fees in any way.

If you deposit references with us, you now have three options for how Crossref does—or doesn’t—distribute the references:

1. Open: references will be openly available through all Crossref APIs and services.

2. Limited: references will be available only to paying metadata service users who sign an agreement with us. (This is the default)

3. Closed: references will only be used in the Crossref Cited-by service.

Because the default is Limited, no action is necessary on your part unless you want to make your references Open or Closed.

If you want to change your reference distribution setting to either Open or Closed, please email us by 1st December to let us know if you're changing your setting, for each of your prefixes.

If you would like to know your current setting, please check this report of publishers with open references. If you are not on this list then your references are not open.

The new reference distribution policy is on our website. We welcome your questions and feedback.

Best regards,

Ginny

Ginny Hendricks, Director of Member & Community Outreach