Re: "Copyleft" article in New Scientist

From: Stevan Harnad <harnad_at_cogprints.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 13:03:39 +0000

On Sun, 10 Feb 2002, Seth Johnson wrote:

> Stevan Harnad wrote:
> >
> sh> [. . .] Apart from wanting to be
> sh> properly credited for its authorship (i.e., protected from plagiarism)
> sh> and to be ensured that the text is not altered or corrupted in any way,
>
> I have to confess that I have no real idea what this latter
> condition really means. Misattribution of authorship for
> subsequent revisions and work is certainly an issue, but
> just what does it mean for the author to assert that the
> text is not to be altered or corrupted?

Toll-free access to the full text means you do not have to pay to read
it, print it out, use it in your further research -- not even to
republish or try to sell it (though lots of luck selling it, given its
feely accessible already!).

But what you may not do is:

(1) claim to have written it yourself

(2) publish it omitting the name of the author(s) and original
locus of publication (if any)

(3) publish it with any changes in the text (or without noting
abbreviations).

Stevan Harnad
Received on Sun Feb 10 2002 - 13:03:53 GMT