Re: Who Should Own Scientific Papers?

On 18 Sep 1998, Daniel J. Schaeffer <daniel_schaeffer[_at_]kirkland.com> wrote:
>
> But in my question, the "previous writer" is the same guy. Joe
> Scientist writes a paper in 1997 and SCIENCE publishes it -- acquiring
> by assignment all copyright in the paper. Joe Scientist then does a
> follow-up study and wants to update the original paper with additional
> information. Wouldn't this be a derivative work of the first paper,
> such that Joe Scientist must get permission from SCIENCE to write the
> update?

All science is derivative in its use of ideas and facts as the basic ingredient to discover further. Ideas and facts are not subject to copyright. All science papers cite prior works. They rarely quote exact expressions. They rarely need permissions.

Albert Henderson, Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY <70244.1532[_at_]compuserve.com> Received on Tue Sep 22 1998 - 21:37:41 GMT