Re: SCIENCE TODAY?

On 2/19/99, Angela Putney <aputney[_at_]aip.org> wrote:
>
> I have signed copyright transfer agreements from several different
> astronomy and physics journals and conference proceedings. The
> journals have all been U.S. society journals and the conference
> proceedings U.S., German, and Dutch. Some works were multiple
> author, others single. The forms request that at least one author
> sign (as long as that author is not as U.S. gov't employee who wrote
> the work as part of official work duties) the form as representative
> to all authors. These forms assign all copyrights to the publisher
> who then gives back, in some cases, rights to the authors regarding
> non-exclusive republication rights. An example of such a form can
> be found at: http://www.aip.org/journal_production/copyright_form.html
> I have also been an author on several papers where I did not sign the
> form.
>
> I have heard some comment on the validity of one signing for all, but
> that is how it is done in the physical sciences at least. Getting all
> to sign can be difficulty, especially when authors are spread all over
> the world and you want to publish ASAP. ...

     While Ms. Putney's representation that one signs for all is in fact my understanding of the way things have worked in the acdemic literature over my career, I have incorporated a section from the Wiley copyright transer form from the _Journal of the American Society for Information Science_ which may be found in full at http://www.asis.org/Publications/JASIS/cta.html. The form was modified about a year ago to include the following material which makes the signer responsible for the co-authors:

"G. CONTRIBUTOR'S REPRESENTATIONS The Contributor represents that the Contribution is the Contributor's original work. If the Contribution was prepared jointly, the Contributor agrees to inform the co-Contributors of the terms of this Agreement and to obtain their signature to this Agreement or their written permission to sign on their behalf. The Contribution is submitted only to this Journal and has not been published before, except for "preprints" as permitted above. (If excerpts from copyrighted works owned by third parties are included, the Contributor will obtain written permission from the copyright owners for all uses as set forth in Wiley's permissions form or in the Journal's Instructions for Contributors, and show credit to the sources in the Contribution.) The Contributor also warrants that the Contribution contains no libelous or unlawful statements, does not infringe on the rights or privacy of others, or contain material or instructions that might cause harm or injury."

                                        BRB

Bert R. Boyce, Professor & Dean
School of Library & Information Science
Louisiana State University
267 Coates Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

     (225)388-3158
FAX: (225)388-4581
LSBOYC[_at_]lsu.edu Received on Mon Feb 22 1999 - 15:18:27 GMT