[Insight-users] Princeton to Journals: Copyright Transfer No More

[Luis Ibanez]

*Princeton to Journals: Copyright Transfer No More *

http://www.kitware.com/blog/home/post/172

*Princeton University* has decided that *Faculty* will
*no longer **transfer copyright* of Papers to Journals.



The detailed report from the University can be found here:

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~appel/open-access-report.pdf



*Remarkable excerpts:*

*"In late 2010 the Dean of the Faculty appointed an ad-hoc faculty
committee, comprising professors from all the divisions of the University,
to study the question of open-access to faculty publications. The committee
met several times in February and March 2011 and adopted this policy and
report by unanimous vote."*

**...

*"We recommend a revision to the Rules and Procedures of the Faculty that
will give the University a nonexclusive right to make available copies of
scholarly articles written by its faculty, unless a professor specifically
requests a waiver for particular articles. The University authorizes
professors to post copies of their articles on their own web sites or on
University web sites, or in other not-for-a-fee venues. Of course, the
faculty already had exclusive rights in the scholarly articles they write;*
*the main effect of this new policy is to prevent them from giving away all
their rights when they publish in a journal*."



*Close to the Autumn Equinox,
the Recommendation became Policy:*

*"The Faculty at its meeting of September 19, 2011 unanimously adopted this
open-access policy into the Rules and Procedures of the Faculty of Princeton
University."*

*"The members of the Faculty of Princeton University strive to make their
publications openly accessible to the public. To that end, each Faculty
member hereby grants to The Trustees of Princeton University a nonexclusive,
irrevocable, worldwide license to exercise any and all copyrights in his or
her scholarly articles published in any medium, whether now known or later
invented, provided the articles are not sold by the University for a profit,
and to authorize others to do the same."*

 ...

*"The University hereby authorizes each member of the faculty to exercise
any and all copyrights in his or her scholarly articles that are subject to
the terms and conditions of the grant set forth above. This authorization is
irrevocable, non-assignable, and may be amended by written agreement in the
interest of further protecting and promoting the spirit of open access."*



The report also includes the realization that in today's Internet age, the
web site of the University is as good, if not better, than the web site of
the publisher, but with the added advantage that the University is committed
to maximizing the public dissemination of the publications. Therefore,
a *University
repository* is called for:

*"The committee recommends the creation of a University ‘repository’, types
of which exist at peer institutions, that will facilitate these goals. The
repository would also be available to provide links to the other
posting/retrieval systems in use in other fields. Besides serving the aim of
open-access, the repository will also offer a picture of the range of
scholarship in the University at large."*



*The Princeton Faculty arrives to this policy based on solid principles*:

   - *The principle of open access is consistent with the fundamental purposes
   of scholarship.*
   - *University support (tangible and intangible) for open access is
   consistent with other forms of university support for scholarship.*
   - *The primary agents of open access are the faculty; university support
   for open access is a form of service to the faculty intended to expand the
   beneficiaries of the university’s research mission.*
   - *A university policy on open access should recognize and respect the
   diversity and dynamism of disciplines, professional organizations and
   academic publishing—maintaining communication, flexibility and diversity as
   core principles of implementation.*
   - *Implementing a university-wide open access policy entails ongoing
   outreach to departments and faculty, involving the participation of
   chairs, managers and IT specialists—particularly in units where open access
   is not now the norm.*

*
*
------------------------------



*It is a new Era !*

Just as Peter Murray predicted recently in his blog

http://blogs.ch.cam.ac.uk/pmr/2011/07/09/what-is-wrong-with-scientific-publishing-and-can-we-put-it-right-before-it-is-too-late/

It was just a matter of time for an awakening of the academic community to
happen, and for all to realize that the Internet has changed everything. The
educational mission of academic institutions is not well served by the
closed gates of Journal whose business models use copyright as a mechanism
for restricting the public's access to information.



*The point is nicely made by Larry Lessig:*

http://vimeo.com/23078677

*This is an edited version of Lawrence Lessig's Lecture at CERN, Geneva,
Switzerland, 18 April 2011. This lecture is released as a Creative Commons
Attribution license. *



and in a funnier way,
the same point is made by Alex O. Holcombe in
*"Scientist meets Publisher: The Video" *

http://theconversation.edu.au/scientist-meets-publisher-the-video-3520

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMIY_4t-DR0



The *Princeton* decision, follows the *Harvard Faculty* decision to

*"...grant to the university a non-exclusive, irrevocable,
     worldwide license to distribute their scholarly articles,
     provided it is for non commercial uses...."*

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/3462



As well as the creation of a *Compact* to support *Open Access:*

http://hul.harvard.edu/news/2009_0914_compact.html

   - Cornell
   - Dartmouth
   - Harvard
   - MIT
   - UC Berkeley

http://www.oacompact.org/

This is all a great Prelude to the Upcoming Celebration of the *Open Access
Week*:

   - http://www.openaccessweek.org/
     <http://www.openaccessweek.org/>
   - Join us during*  October 24-20, 2011 *to celebrate
   the *Renaissance* of the academic field that raises
   to *Embrace Openness* in all its forms.
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