I just mailed the December 2009 issue of the SPARC Open Access Newsletter .  This issue takes a close look at the OA implications of the amended version of the Google book settlement.  The roundup section briefly notes 150 OA developments from November.

The Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences ( HBO-raad ) signed the Berlin Declaration (Google translation). A study of of 2700 articles from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that articles published under the journal's hybrid OA option received 25% more citations. German publisher Schattauer launched a hybrid OA option for its journals, with a €1,630 APC.

OASPA Welcomes the BMJ and OUP, press release, December 1, 2009.

Scholarly Books: Their Production, Use and Evaluation in South Africa Today, report by the Academy of Science of South Africa, August 2009.

Glenda Proctor, No longer free for all, Canadian Medical Association Journal, November 16, 2009. Paul C. Hébert, No longer free for all, Canadian Medical Association Journal, November 16, 2009.

Roxana Mullafiroze, Faculty debate copyrighted works resolution, C-Ville, December 1, 2009.

Richard Poynder, Open Access: Who pays? How much?, Open and Shut? , November 26, 2009.

OA journal announcements, launches, and conversions spotted in the past week or so: New OA journals: La Révolution française, via Revues.org (announcement) New delayed OA journals: Revue de primatologie (6 month delay), via Revues.org (announcement) Converted to delayed OA: Italique (3 year delay), via Revues.org (announcement) New OA backfiles: Journal of the Polynesian Society (1892-1992), via the University of Auckland Library

The University of Manchester, "Need not greed", say Nobel Prize winners, press release, November 26, 2009. From the manifesto: See also our past post on the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation.

School of Environmental Sciences establishes open access policy, press release, November 26, 2009. According to ROARMAP, this is the first non-library institutional or departmental OA commitment in Canada.

I'll be out Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. (As always, the Open Access Tracking Project continues apace.) Happy holidays!