Re: Who Should Own Scientific Papers?

Bert Boyce <lsboyc[_at_]lsuvm.sncc.lsu.edu> wrote:
>
> This is a fairly long article which those not interested in the
> "Who should own scientific papers" thread may wish to delete at once.
> However, it is important in that it shows the feelings of an academic
> administrator in a significant position who can affect academic thinking
> on copyright policy.

Personally, I'm glad to see some action on an idea whose time appears to be coming. (I even suggested to my library administration that a copy of http://www.ifla.org/documents/infopol/copyright/trln.txt be forwarded on the to university administration for consideration.

As a librarian dealing with the reality of having to (re)purchase research which is "subsidized" in the first place by library collections, I do think the academic publishing model is seriously out of whack. At this point, I'm not sure that it shouldn't be reworked entirely.

Laurie

p.s. While catching up with the debate from last week, the following declaration caught my eye: <<No association that I know of runs its publishing program in the red on purpose.>>

Allow me to broaden your circle :-) While perhaps no commercial publisher would do so, non-commercial publishers do it all the time. For example, the _BYU Law Review_ and the other legal journals we publish are always published 'at a loss' to the school (I might even venture to guess that NO law review operates in the black). In fact, new subscriptions are not solicited because they would cost us money. We publish for other reasons than generating income.

Laureen C. Urquiaga
Hunter Law Library, Brigham Young University urquiagal[_at_]lawgate.byu.edu Received on Wed Sep 23 1998 - 18:57:04 GMT