Tue, 3 Aug 2004 16:35:44 +0530 "Shalini R.Urs" shalini@vidyanidhi.org.in Dear friends, Please read the complete report before jumping to conclusions- the Sabo bill and the NIH policy is still in the 'debate' stage and there is no conclusive evidence to say that 'NIH research to be open access'. If you read the whole piece, you will understand the undercurrents of the issues.This is a case of typical 'double speak'. The article begins with the usual brouhaha bait by Zehrouni, Director of NIH, about 'public needs to have access to what they have paid for', but he is quick to add - let me quote

But Zerhouni tried to assure participants that the government was not yet creating a mandate and that their views would be taken into account before the policy was finalized. He also distanced himself from the House report, saying that NIH did not prepare it, even though the wording was "inspired" by deliberations within the agency.

Zerhouni said that individual repositories tend to fade out. He also told participants that NIH had no intention of becoming a journal publisher and the public is aware of the value of journals' peer reviews.

The issue of scholarly publishing, copyright , etc cannot be resolved by rhetorical positioning alone but by dispassionate understanding of the implications and realities.Let us understand the basics of copyrights, right. The first copyright act-the Statute of Queen Anne of 1710 introduced the concept of author being the owner of copyright. The original purpose was to exercise central authority to control publishing and generate tax revenue for the government! But then soon copyrights evolved and the aim of copyrights is to provide stimulus for creativity Copyright is not just about economic rights but about also about paternity rights. The copyrights also cover the right of paternity by which authors have the right to claim authorship of their works ensuring that their names are mentioned in connection with it. The right of integrity is another dimension of the copyright. It is not without reason that the word 'author' etymologically means father. If 'copyrights' are banned then what incentive will a scientist have to publish? The forces and incentives that help produce creative or intellectual works are diverse. In the end, if bills like Sabo bill if passed then few scholars would spend their time and efforts to publish. One critical difference between the Government 'banning copyright' and authors assigning / transferring certain rights to publishers is- while the latter is voluntary the former is not. Actually it amounts to 'taking away' the rights and potentially has all the ingredients of governments hegemony over academe. Second and more complicated issue is of paternity rights. Like all rights copyrights also have the 'responsibility' dimension. Can the government own responsibility for everything that is written and published by the scientists/scholars? Imagine a scenario like this- Salman Rushdie were to be a Professor at some university and publish 'The Satanic Verses' , will his university be held responsible for his writings ? Will the university be banned and face the death threat from Iranian clergy ? Organisations cannot own up the responsibility for one scholar's writings. Do not think that the scenario of 'Satanic Verses' is only in literature but it could well be in sciences as well. Imagine the classic case of Galileo's treatise 'Dialogue concerning the two chief world systems' proving the logical superiority of the Copernican theory for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Roman Catholic Church, and eventually died a recluse under house arrest.Would the University of Padua where Galileo served as a professor of Mathematics would have been held responsible for his writings and served a life sentence? Finally friends- this piece is written as part of my professional interests to air my views on the topic by me-Shalini Urs- a professor at an Indian University and these are my views and I not only own copyrights but also am liable to be held responsible for these views. My university's views on this issue if and when decided will only be expressed as an official policy statement with the authority and official seal of the University of Mysore! Shalini -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr.Shalini R.Urs Director Information & Communication Division & Professor and Chairperson Department of Library and Information Science University of Mysore Manasagangotri Mysore- 570006 India Ph : 91-821-2514699 Fax: 91-821-2519209 Website:http://www.vidyanidhi.org.in/shaliniurs.htm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------