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National Institutes of Health America, Proposes Free Access For Public to Research Data by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2004-09-07 10:41 AM

The National Institutes of Health has proposed a major policy change that would require all scientists who receive funding from the agency to make the results of their research available to the public for free.

BBC planning to open source its archives by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2004-09-17 09:34 AM

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), one of the world's largest public service networks, will shortly launch what it hails as a pioneering new approach to public access rights, and it is turning to the open source community to contribute to its successful rollout.

Open-Source Biology Evolves by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2005-01-19 07:01 AM

To push research forward, scientists need to draw from the best data and innovations in their field. Much of the work, however, is patented, leaving many academic and nonprofit researchers hamstrung. But an Australian organization advocating an open-source approach to biology hopes to free up biological data without violating intellectual property rights.

Developing Nations Copyright License Frees Creativity Across the Digital Divide by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2004-09-19 12:50 AM

The law-and-technology nonprofit Creative Commons offers a tool for authors and publishers to encourage innovation in developing nations while protecting their rights in the developed world.

Finding Cures For Tropical Diseases: Is Open Source An Answer? by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2005-01-19 09:54 AM

Only about 1% of newly developed drugs are for tropical diseases, such as African sleeping sickness and dengue fever. While patent incentives have driven commercial pharmaceutical companies to make Western health care the envy of the world, the commercial model only works if companies can sell enough patented products to cover their R&D costs and produce profits for shareholders. The model thus fails in the developing world, where few patients can afford to pay patented prices for drugs. The solution to this devastating problem, say Stephen Maurer, Arti Rai, and Andrej Sali in the premier open-access medical journal PLoS Medicine, is to adopt an "open source" approach to discovering new drugs for neglected diseases.

Creative Commons Is Rewriting Rules of Copyright by Russell John — last modified 2005-03-18 09:58 AM

Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig's Creative Commons licensing scheme, which permits authors and artists to distribute their works online while retaining "some rights reserved" rather than "all rights reserved," has gained a substantial advocacy base.

Dutch academics declare research free-for-all by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2005-05-12 11:02 PM

Scientists from all major Dutch universities officially launched a website on Tuesday where all their research material can be accessed for free.

BBC News opens archives to public by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2006-01-04 08:12 AM

The fall of the Berlin Wall and footage of the 1966 England World Cup team are among items released from the BBC News archives for the first time.

Open source and open medicine take centre stage at UN research symposium by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2006-04-14 02:46 PM

Can an Intellectual Property regime designed to protect private interests be reformed to "lock everyone in"? What results when government authorities promote free, open source software in their jurisdictions? Who (if anyone) should own or control access to the human genome sequence? What parallels can be drawn with the fundamental principles of 'openness' for science and society as a whole?

Push for open access to research by Khairil Yusof — last modified 2007-03-02 01:52 PM

Internet law professor Michael Geist takes a look at a fundamental shift in the way research journals become available to the public

Invitation to FOSS companies by Tushar Abraham Mathew — last modified 2007-11-21 05:44 PM