Re: The policy of arXiv

Re: The policy of arXiv

[Bill Rowan]

Hi all,

I think it is relevant to point out that if people who post articles to
the Arxiv agree to grant a permanent, _non-exclusive_ right to distribute the
article,  that means, that if the operators of the Arxiv, whoever
they are, decide to sell copies of the database, or individual articles,
they won't be entitled to prevent anyone else from distributing the
same material for free.  So they can't corner the market on the content,
in other words.

All in all it doesn't seem that big of a concern to me, although certainly
worth a thoughtful discussion.  It would be nice to hear from Cornell
Library about their intentions.

Bill Rowan

The policy of arXiv

[Marco Grandis]

Dear Sirs,

Before deciding of using arXiv in a systematic way, I would like that =20=

there be a clear statement of its policy and commitments; a statement =20=

which, likely, the organisers and many of us take as understood and =20
granted, but which I have been unable to find.

To be more explicit, what about the possibility of the system being, =20
in future, exploited economically? What about the possibility of it =20
being sold to a commercial company?

When downloading an article to the arXiv, the author is asked to =20
grant 'a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distribute this =20
article'. I think the author has a right to know that this license =20
will not be used, in the future, for goals which would be in contrast =20=

with the present (understood) ones, or even opposite to them.

Last year I wrote a message in this sense to the list =20
'categories' (categories@mta,ca), where arXiv has been frequently =20
proposed as a way of disseminating articles. In December 2006 there =20
was a discussion about these points in a blog kept by John Baez

    http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2006/12/=20
arxiv_policy_statement.html

This is part of a posting by John Baez, on this blog:

"Many people like to have some idea of what an organization seeks to =20
do, or is committed to do, before they do business with it.

For this reason, it=92s unusual for such an important entity as the =20
arXiv not to make a public statement about its goals and commitments. =20=

Consider, for example, the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to =20
Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, and its many signatories, =20
or the statement by the Wellcome Trust supporting open access, or the =20=

Wikimedia mission statement and bylaws, or the Google code of conduct =20=

and privacy policy.  "  (end of citation)

As far as I know, there still is no policy statement available. One =20
can only read, at the head of the 'arXiv Advisory Board' page:

"Please note that all arXiv policy decisions are ultimately made by =20
Cornell University Library."

Will the Cornell University Library make its arXiv policy public?

With best regards

Marco Grandis

Dipartimento di Matematica
Universit=E0 di Genova
Via Dodecaneso, 35
16146 Genova
Italy

e-mail: grandis@dima.unige.it
tel: +39 010 353 6805
http://www.dima.unige.it/~grandis/=