BioMed Central Authors to retain copyright

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

This e-mail was sent by BioMed Central
http://www.biomedcentral.com

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BioMed Central to free scientists and clinical researchers from copyright 
restrictions
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Researchers will be free from the restrictive copyright agreements usually
imposed by scientific journals thanks to a groundbreaking move announced by
a new publishing house today.  Authors publishing papers on BioMed Central
will retain the copyright of their work, allowing them to freely distribute
and archive their research findings however they see fit.  All peer-reviewed
research published by BioMed Central will also be made available immediately
on PubMed Central, the NIH-sponsored repository for biological and medical
research www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov, and on www.biomedcentral.com.

"BioMed Central promises to offer all primary research without financial and
copyright barriers," says Professor Marc W Kirschner, Head of the Department
of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School.  "This will allow scientists the
freedom to participate in a truly worldwide community of scholars.  It
deserves all our support".

"We will make the publishing of original research quicker, easier and free
to all," says Vitek Tracz, Chairman of BioMed Central.  "Restrictive
copyright agreements are simply not in keeping with our intention to help
scientists communicate research findings as effectively as possible."  

Current industry practice typically requires researchers to transfer the
copyright of their work to the journal publisher.  However, BioMed Central
will require only the non-exclusive right to distribute the research and to
be cited as the original publisher of the article.  "We do not see primary
research data as a direct source of income for us," continues Tracz, "We
want to redefine the role of commercial biomedical publishing by focusing on
adding value and offering services that complement the freely-available
original research and literature of the future."

BioMed Central will, in addition to publishing primary research papers
free-of-charge on the internet, provide commentary, reviews, news, alerting
services, databases and e-commerce services.  Some of these services will be
available on subscription. "The success of our business will depend on
providing the services that members of the biomedical community need, at
prices that are both realistic and competitive," says Tracz.

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Notes

1 The full copyright agreement is available on-line at
www.biomedcentral.com/copyright.asp 

2 BioMed Central will begin accepting papers from the end of May 2000.  The
site is currently under development but can be viewed on
www.biomedcentral.com.  All research published on BioMed Central will also
be stored on PubMed Central, the National Institutes of Health sponsored
repository www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/ 

3 Useful link: The Association of Research Libraries and SPARC who have
launched a campaign to create change in the scientific publishing community:
www.arl.org/create/press.html and www.arl.org/scomm/change.html.  

4 Useful link: A proposal from the "Transition of Paper" Working Group can
be found at www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/281/5382/1459.  

5 Useful link: Free at Last: The Future of Peer-Reviewed Journals
www.dlib.org/dlib/december99/12harnad.html 

6 BioMed Central is part of the Current Science Group, a group of
independent companies that collaborate closely with each other to publish
and develop information and services for the professional biomedical
community. The Group has its head-office in London (UK), with additional
offices in Philadelphia, New York and Tokyo. www.current-science-group.com 


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