SH> Note that the Ingelfinger Rule is NOT a legal matter, and is not a SH >copyright policy. It is a submission policy. > SH >I agree with David, however, that if George is indeed here endorsing SH >the Ingelfinger Rule, so construed, then many of us are indeed urging SH >that this policy be changed. I am also urging that it be ignored, as SH >it has no legal force, and is unenforceable.
The key to understanding the enforceability of the Ingelfinger rule in medicine is that it involves a type of Stokholm syndrome -- the hostages to the rule (i.e., the authors) become their own hostage keepers. The reason they do so is that author-reseasrchers are so strongly incentivized (for getting grants, promotion, tenure, awards) to publish in some of the very brand name journals that strictly enforce the rule. In the short term, calls to publish in those journals and ignore the rule, or boycott those journals entirely, are interesting strategies to circumvent the Ingelfinger rule. In the long term, a sucessful strategy to do so will need to decouple the brand name of the journal from the measurement of quality of the article. This will allow for a new set of journal brand name independent incentives. The literature will never be truly free until the incentive system in medicine and science is changed to reward, rather than penalize, open access publication. Reference Singer PA. When Shall we be free? Journal of Electronic Publishing 2000; 6 (2) (http://www.press.umich.edu/jep/06-02prece/singer.html) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Peter A. Singer, MD, MPH, FRCPC Sun Life Chair in Bioethics and Director, University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto Canadian Institutes of Health Research Investigator Associate Editor, Canadian Medical Association Journal e-mail: peter.sin...@utoronto.ca website: http://www.utoronto.ca/jcb fax: 416-978-1911 phone: 416-978-4756 mail: 88 College St., Toronto ON Canada M5G-1L4
