In the November issue of First Monday, John Willinsky has an important article on Copyright Contradictions in Scholarly Publishing. He looks closely at the copyright implications of commercial and open-access publishing. "I have been struck in exploring the case for open access by how the very principles of copyright law, oddly enough, appear to be on its side....With the emergence of a new publishing medium, enterprising researchers and others have introduced a second economic model - open access - into scholarly publishers. This model invites and supports a wider readership, on a far more global basis, and is far more in accord with the copyright interests of researchers and those who would back such scholarly and scientific activities."
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/14/2002 05:40:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.