Final Report
Executive Summary
This new report is the result of a AAAS project that examined intellectual
property issues associated with electronic publishing in science. The emergence
of electronic journals in scientific publication has the potential to transform
the management and communication of scientific information, and stakeholders
associated with scientific publishing are engaged in assessing their promises
and pitfalls. What seems clear is that electronic publication is not likely
to reach its full potential without a stable legal framework that balances the
protection of researchers' intellectual property with the open dissemination
and exchange of scientific information.
The report of the project describes the challenges that advances in information
technology pose for intellectual property law, and identifies a set of
"core values" that should be embedded in a system of scientific
publishing. Those core values can serve as a basis for defining a common
ground on which all stakeholders can build new publishing systems and
legal frameworks. The report recommends new patterns of licensing that
will enable scientists and scientific publishers to build a publishing
system that will promote broad access to and use of scientific information,
all within existing copyright law. Guidelines for authors and publishers
are offered for preparing licensing agreements. The report was prepared
by AAAS with the assistance of a diverse group of experts representing
the range of backgrounds and perspectives participating in ongoing debates
about the future of scientific publishing.
The project was funded by a grant from the National
Science Foundation.
For more information, contact Mark
Frankel.
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