> Stevan Harnad wrote:
>
> Government researchers are contractually forbidden to transfer
> copyright for their research reports, so they simply license the
> right to publish and sell to the publisher, as in the Nature license:
> http://npg.nature.com/pdf/05_news.pdf
>
> There is no reason all authors of refereed research
> articles should not do the same; but there is also no need. If
> they retain the self-archiving right, that is sufficient;
>
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ls/disresearch/romeo/Romeo%20Publisher%20
Policies.htm
I would beg to differ here. Retaining copyright is far superior to
assigning it, even with a self-archiving concession. The reason being: if
academics retain their copyright they are in a position to state how
end-users may use their work (e.g. multiple copies, print, save, as long as
author is attributed, etc). If academics assign their copyright, even if
the publisher allows them to self-archive, end-users may only *legally* use
that work under the restrictive constraints of copyright law (one copy for
research and private study in the UK).
Elizabeth Gadd
*************************************************
Elizabeth Gadd, Research Associate &
Editor, Library and Information Research
Department of Information Science
Loughborough University
Loughborough, Leics, LE11 3TU
Tel: +44 (0)1509 222178 Fax: +44 (0)1509 223053
Email: E.A.Gadd_at_lboro.ac.uk
************************************************
Received on Mon Mar 03 2003 - 10:01:34 GMT