The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has issued a bargaining advisory on The Freedom to Publish [and] The Freedom to Disclose Risks. Excerpt: 'A commitment to the unfettered transmission of knowledge is a core value in the academic community. Scholarship, education and research are best served by the unconstrained sharing of information. This openness has been challenged at various times by religious, political, state and commercial interests. Today, with growing concerns about terrorism, there is a resurgence in demands for research secrecy from the state. As universities and colleges are increasingly encouraged to commercialize, pressure is also growing to accommodate the private sector need for secrecy – a need arising from a desire to deter competition, suppress negative product information or ensure patentability of research results....CAUT recommends that the following clause be negotiated into your collective agreement.
Freedom to Publish
The University is an open environment for the pursuit of scholarly work. Academic freedom and critical inquiry depend on the communication of the findings and results of intellectual investigation. The Employer shall not interfere with a member's freedom to publish the results of scholarly inquiry and research, except for limitations imposed by duly constituted university research ethics boards.
The Employer shall not enter into or administer any research requiring permission or approval of government, industry or other sponsors for the researchers to publish the results of their work. The only exception shall be a publication delay of no more than sixty days from the conclusion of a research project to allow the statutory protection of intellectual property.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/07/2004 04:21:00 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.
