J. Carlos Fernández-Molina

The open access movement and Cuban health research work: an author survey

OBJECTIVE To assess the level of knowledge about and the attitudes of the Cuban health researchers towards the open access movement. METHODS A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted from March to June 2007 through a printed questionnaire administered to a group of Cuban researchers from several national health institutes, who were selected by means of a stratified random sampling (160 researchers from 11 institutions). Summary statistics and bivariate correlations were obtained using the spss statistical program, version 10.0 for Windows. RESULTS The best known initiatives for researchers were those related to biomedical sciences, i.e. PubMed Central, HINARI and BioMed Central. The rate of publication in open access journals and deposit in open access repositories was low. Most of researchers (85%) agree to upload a copy of their papers onto an open access repository if their institution requests so. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate a need for the promotion of the beneficial aspects of the open access movement, as well as training and encouragement for researchers so that they can take full advantage of the potential of this movement.

Laws against the circumvention of copyright technological protection

The problems that the great developments in digital information and the Internet are creating for copyright may be partly solved through new legislation as well as through the implementation of technological systems (generically known as ECMS) that help protect it. These two approaches – legal and technological – interact, as the new copyright laws protect these electronic measures through the prohibition of their circumvention. The contents of the three main legal norms that have regulated this area to date, the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the European Directive and the new Australian Copyright Act, are analysed in an attempt to determine what impact they might have on the traditional limitations and exceptions to copyright (fair use/dealing, private copying, library privileges) that benefit libraries, their users and the general public.

The moral rights of authors in the age of digital information

In addition to stipulating economic rights, the copyright laws of most nations grant authors a series of “moral rights.” The development of digital information and the new possibilities for information processing and transmission have given added significance to moral rights. This article briefly explains the content and characteristics of moral rights, and assesses the most important aspects of legislation in this area. The basic problems of the digital environment with respect to moral rights are discussed, and some suggestions are made for the international harmonization of rules controlling these rights.

Licensing Agreements for Information Resources and Copyright Limitations and Exceptions

The development of the digital environment has given way to the generalized online exploitation of intellectual works, so that licensing agreements are replacing sales as the habitual form of procuring access and use. This means that contract law acquires unprecedented relevance in publisher-user relations. The partial displacement of copyright law by contract law is not exempt from problems: through these licensing agreements libraries are being obligated, either by the absence of negotiation or the lack of balanced agreements, to renounce the enjoyment of copyright limitations and exceptions that benefit them, interfering with their important social role of helping citizens obtain information. The solutions to this problem can be found in three different yet complementary approaches: the constitution of consortia, greater information and training for professionals, and finally - and this is the focus of the analysis presented here - the modification of copyright law so that licences that stipulate against the most fundamental limitations and exceptions to copyright might be declared null and void, in the interest of maintaining a copyright equilibrium.

Copyright and e‐learning: professors' level of knowledge about the new Spanish law

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the level of knowledge, among university professors, about copyright problems related to e‐learning activities.Design/methodology/approach – An online questionnaire was used to survey professors teaching subjects online.Findings – There is a considerable lack of knowledge on the part of professors regarding copyright issues, both in general terms and in specific matters related to digital learning. Strong discrepancies are found between the text of the law and the notion actually held by professors as to how legislators have formulated the law.Originality/value – This information may be useful for professors themselves as well as for persons managing the e‐learning platforms of universities. It demonstrates that the law was reformed without any discussion with those actually engaged in online teaching.

Contractual and technological approaches for protecting digital works: their relationship with copyright limitations

To deal with the new circumstances arising in the digital environment, with its particular conditions for the access, distribution and use of intellectual works, three distinct approaches exist: legal (copyright laws are modified to adapt them to the new context), technological (systems designed to control access and use of works), and contractual (through licenses to regulate the conditions of use of the works). The joint use of technological measures and licenses, together with the laws that protect both, are seriously endangering the effectiveness of the limitations to copyright set forth by law to benefit libraries, their users and citizens in general. This represents a strong privatisation of access to information. Using as a point of reference the laws of countries that are on the front lines of this terrain – the USA, the European Union and Australia – some problems created by the new forms of protection of intellectual works are examined.

The WIPO development agenda and the contribution of the international library community

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the international strengthening of copyright law in developing countries and the active involvement of the international library community in the movement against it.Design/methodology/approach – The paper describes the overprotection of intellectual property rights through international and bilateral treaties, the reaction against such through the proposal of a WIPO development agenda, and the contribution of the international library organizations to the debates and discussions in the WIPO arena.Findings – The initiative for a development agenda for WIPO has proven much more successful than many had imagined, even its promoters. The most relevant proposals made by the international library community were included in the final list of approved recommendations.Originality/value – The paper raises awareness of the relationship between copyright and access to knowledge and, in consequence, the need for library organizations to exert influence in such legisla...

Journal Reading and Publishing Patterns of Cuban Health Researchers

Studies about the patterns of use and diffusion of scientific information by researchers have been numerous in recent years, but very few of them have focused on developing countries. The objective of this study is to determine the patterns of use of scientific journals and the publication-related practices of Cuban researchers in the biomedical sector, clearly the best developed field in the country. To this end a survey was directed at researchers of the national health institutes of Cuba. The results point to patterns of use involving journals and publication practices similar to those of researchers from other world regions (predominating use of online journals, but a preference for the printed format, associations between the preference of format and different age brackets and scientific qualifications). At the same time, most researchers in Cuba believe that they have access to very few or only a part of the articles they consider necessary, which can be explained not only by the financial limitations of the country but also by the limited informational abilities and scarce familiarization with open access publications.

The legal protection of databases: current situation of the international harmonisation process

The requisite of creativity set down by copyright laws does not fit well into the context of digital databases. The risk of being unprotected increases in the case of factual compilations, as simple facts or data are not copyrightable, meaning that their contents can easily be copied and/or used by others without infringing copyright. After more than a decade of intense debate about the need to give or not give additional protection to non‐original databases, and about the most appropriate model to follow, international consensus is still far away. This paper analyses the situation at the present point of the long, heated process of harmonising the legal protection of databases. The European directive is first examined, as well as attempts to extrapolate it to other countries. Then the paper looks at some proposals from the USA, and finally at the treaties and projects of an international nature.

An Open Access Policy for the Scientific Output of Cuba’s National Health System

The open access movement seeks to recover the original principles behind scholarly communication – disseminating the results of research as broadly as possible, so that they can be analyzed, discussed, evaluated and confirmed by the scientific community, while eliminating legal, economic or technological barriers for the access to such documents. Open access policies can be considered catalysts of favourable attitudes and behaviours in this sense. In the particular case of Cuba, widespread and equal access to knowledge and information has been a core issue of social development policies since 1959. Nonetheless, there are weaknesses in the register of scientific production, and the accessibility and visibility of some types of documents in the health sector. This paper presents an outline for developing an open access policy to disseminate the scientific output of Cubas National Health System. The four-stage analytical process involved questionnaires, interviews, focal groups, content analysis, and a Delphi policy study. The findings underline the benefits of obligatory register and deposit of Cuban scientific articles, Master’s and PhD theses, and books on medicine and the health sciences, and thus, that their availability through open access be achieved as soon as possible. Introduction Policies are conceived as a series of principles and strategies to orient courses of action in view of a specific goal. In the context of open access to information, at least two types of policies occur: information policies and scientific policies. Firstly, information policies should address open access to varied sources of information and relevant new resources and services, including journals and open access repositories. Moreover, they should take into account all transformations undergone with regard to copyright and requisites of information literacy surrounding such developments. In other words, the very development of open access journals and repositories should take place under the umbrella of information policies. Efficient and effective management of repositories calls for policies regulating the flows of information and how information is gathered and presented. When channelling scientific research through open access resources, such directives should be embedded within scientific policy, to guide actions associated with the generation and communication of scientific knowledge. The transformations in scientific communication initiated by the open access movement depend, in turn, on changes in the elements governing scientific policy, such as scientific incentives, intellectual property laws and research funding policies. In this context, Onsrud (2004) affirms that all these policies should favour those who adopt the open access approach. Accordingly, institutions should prioritize financing researchers who publish their articles and data sets in open access resources; the policies of academic promotion should highlight the enhanced social value of articles and data reviewed by peers and found in open access archives; and universities should encourage professors and researchers to use open access licences both when gathering knowledge and when disseminating it. Why is it necessary to regulate the means of making research openly available? For one, because the open access movement advances at a snail’s pace, despite the generally positive attitudes that accompany it. Harnad (2006a) refers to this phenomenon as “ZeLibri, Vol. 62, pp. 211–221, September 2012 • Copyright