Re: PostGutenberg Copyrights and Wrongs for Give-Away Research

From: Albert Henderson <chessNIC_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 17:54:29 +0100

on 6/1/2001 David Goodman <dgoodman_at_Princeton.EDU> wrote:

> dg> This is a very clear statement of exactly the policy that Steve
> dg> and so many of us are urging be changed universally.
>
> George Lundberg wrote:
>
> gl> In the document entitled Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts
> gl> Submitted to Medical Journals published by the International
> gl> Committee of Medical Journal Editors it is stated that
> gl> "...electronic publication is publication...." Most such
> gl> journals do not wish to consider for publication a paper that
> gl> has already been published. Thus an author can choose the
> gl> initial method of distribution of written work once only.

  On the other hand, Stevan Harnad seems to agree with the medical
  editors.

  For example,

on 31 May 2001 Harnad <harnad_at_COGPRINTS.SOTON.AC.UK> wrote:

> On Wed, 30 May 2001, Albert Henderson wrote:
>
> >ah> I am saying that after the transfer of copyright, the
> >ah> article must be withdrawn unless the agreement provides
> >ah> for continued publication of the preprint form of the work.
>
> sh> This is all predicated on prior PUBLICATION, where "publication" is
> sh> constured to be the same sort of thing as that "secondary"
> sh> publication which now calls for the withdrawal of the primary one.
>
> sh> That's all Gutenberg gibberish. Legally, even a hand-written copy
> sh> on toilet paper or a lavatory wall is "publication" (and protected
> sh> by copyright); so is a radio reading, which can be taped by
> sh> countless listeners.

        You can't have it both ways.

        The claim that one can leave the preprint in place as a somehow
        different work, after transferring the copyright is
        dangerously misleading. The author who follows such advice
        cannot excuse his behavior by saying "Harnad told me to do it."
        If Harnad said jump off the bridge ....

Best wishes,

Albert Henderson
Former Editor, PUBLISHING RESEARCH QUARTERLY 1994-2000
<70244.1532_at_compuserve.com>
Received on Wed Jan 03 2001 - 19:17:43 GMT