Public authorities should endeavor to ensure that basic research remains a public good, inter alia through providing adequate funding for basic research, by elaborating and overseeing the implementation of codes of ethical behaviour in research and by seeking to prevent the misuse of research results. Public authorities should further endeavor to ensure wide public access to research results to which no copyright restrictions apply, as well as to ensure that copyrights are granted and exercised with reason.
Comments.
If this principle recommends OA at all, it's only for uncopyrighted research. That's nearly all research data but nearly none of the new articles analyzing or interpreting those data. I'd call it strong on data and weak on literature, but in fact I can't shake the suspicion that the good implication for data is inadvertent. (If the ministers meant to call for OA to data, couldn't they just say so, as the OECD has?) For the rest, the principle only recommends reducing irrational copyright behavior without a hint as to what might fall into that category.
The statement is only available in a locked PDF with cut/paste turned off. If I want to share the principle on sharing, I have to re-key it. Can we expect the ministers to be very energetic in pushing these principles when their medium contradicts their message?
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/29/2007 08:42:00 AM.
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.
