I was reminded, today, that we have a distinct viewpoint proferred by scientists regarding copyright and how it is handled in the academic world. J.Q. Johnson, Academic Coordinator at the University of Oregon, states the issue thusly:
"It is instructive in understanding the academic process to observe that
there are two competing sets of laws. One is copyright, the law of the
nationstate. A very different body of common law is the set of rules
governing academic integrity and plagiarism. This alternative set of
rules is often confused with copyright, but is really quite distinct,
and grows from a different social contract. It features, for instance,
free copying in most circumstances, but only with adequate attribution
and citation. To a large extent we can see efforts like arXiv or
institutional repositories as attempts by academia to reassert its own
preferred body of law in the face of encroachments by you lawyers and
commercial publishers."
I like that, "academic integrity and plagiarism", as opposed to copyright. . . .
Posted by
Tom at 3/09/2003 08:36:00 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.
