Thursday, October 02, 2008

October 2008 SPARC Open Access Newsletter

Peter Suber has just released the October 2008 SPARC Open Access Newsletter. Highlighted this month: an attempt to overturn the NIH policy with a bill that makes the ludicrous claim that copyright in published results of publicly funded research belongs to the publishers.

If publishers make a little money from publishing the results of publicly funded research, that's fine - as long as this does not interfere with the purpose of funding the research. In medicine, the purpose is advancing our understanding so that we can prevent, cure, and treat illnesses.

This is a topic I've written about in more depth in my open letter to the American Association of Cancer Research, In lieu of flowers.

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