Is scientific self-censorship an unnerving and high-risk response to terrorism? How about ordinary, involuntary censorship? John Steinbruner, an arms control expert at the University of Maryland, is making the rounds of biomedical conferences advocating that an international body decide what may and may not be investigated, which pathogens may be shipped and where, and which scientists and research projects will be licensed to proceed. "[T]he oversight system he envisions would be mandatory and it would operate before potentially dangerous life sciences experiments are conducted. Even if the line of inquiry wins approval, access to results could be limited to those whose motives had passed muster under the proposed framework he has developed." Steinbruner calls it "just an extension of the normal peer review process".
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/08/2003 07:05:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
