RE: Scholarly Publishing Groups Issue White Paper on

Writing in a personal capacity:

A lot of publishers don't any longer insist on transfer of
copyright, and
publishing organizations such as ALPSP have encouraged this
shift

Sally Morris
South House, The Street
Clapham, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3UU, UK
Email:  sallymorris-assocs.demon.co.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-llists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-llists.yale.edu] On Behalf
Of Armbruster, Chris
Sent: 18 May 2007 23:57
To: liblicense-llists.yale.edu
Subject: RE: Scholarly Publishing Groups Issue White Paper
on

For Michael Mabe and this list I have the following
quotation 
from Robert K. Merton, which goes way back to 1942 and his 
thoughts on the norms of science and the compatibility of
science 
and democracy:

"The substantive findings of science are a product of
social 
collaboration and are assigned to the community. They
constitute 
a common heritage in which the equity of the individual
producer 
is severely limited. An eponymous law or theory does not
enter 
into the exclusive possession of the discoverer and heirs,
nor do 
the mores bestow upon them special rights of use and
disposition. 
Property rights in science are whittled down to the bare
minimum 
by the rationale of the scientific ethic. Scientists claim
to 
'their' intellectual property are limited to those of
recognition 
and esteem which, if the institution functions with a
modicum of 
efficiency, are roughly commensurate with the significance
of the 
increments brought to the common fund of knowledge."

I have argued that publishers need to understand that in
future 
they will need to make their profits from nonexclusive
licensing 
in a competitive market. Then commercial publishing and open

science will be in sync again.

Rephrased as a warning: Publishers that insist on transfer
of 
copyright are out of sync with the norms and economics of 
science.

Chris Armbruster