Actes du colloque

Proceedings of the 18

International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013

Appendix 14: ISSMGE Task Force on Copyright

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Proposal on Publishing and

K. Rainer Massarsch

Chair

Bengt H. Fellenius

Vice-Chair

INTRODUCTION

The ISSMGE Board decided to establish a Task Force to study

the current copyright practice and to develop a formal position

for ISSMGE. By letter dated May 14, 2012, the President

appointed K. Rainer Massarsch (Sweden) as Chair and Bengt H.

Fellenius (Canada) as Vice-Chair and outlined steps to

implement the work. The President expected final

recommendations from the Task Force before the end of 2012.

The Swedish Geotechnical Society endorsed the work of the

Task Force and accepted to sponsor the work of the chairman.

The following members accepted to contribute to the work

of the Task Force: Dimitrios Zekkos, USA and Andrew Bond,

United Kingdom.

After an initial exchange of information between the

members of the Task Force, different participants of the

publishing process were contacted by the chairman. These

contacts included representatives of libraries, publishers of

books and journals, organizing committees of ISSMGE

conferences and organisations working with copyright issues.

Publishers of geotechnical books and journals were

contacted and a meeting was held with one major publisher to

discuss copyright issues from their perspective. The present

report is based on this information and documents available on

the Internet.

During the progress of the work, members of the Task Force

and the President were kept informed about the steps taken.

ISSMGE AND THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY

The publishing industry is undergoing rapid changes, due to

new, efficient ways of compiling information, producing

publications, digital publishing and/or printing and

dissemination of information, for instance on the Internet.

protecting the creator of intellectual property. Therefore, the

author of an article or book needs to be—but often is not—

aware of the consequences when transferring copyright to a

publisher.

In this context, ISSMGE as the umbrella organisation of

geotechnical and geo-environmental engineers world-wide, has

an important function as:

• organizer of conferences and symposia which are

documented by proceedings in print and/or digital

format;

• sponsor of conferences organized by ISSMGE

Technical Committees;

• publisher of technical information on the ISSMGE Web

site and elsewhere; and

• representative of the interests of geo engineers world-

wide.

In addition, members of ISSMGE contribute as authors,

reviewers, and presenters at conferences and meetings to the

dissemination of geotechnical and geo-related information.

Therefore, ISSMGE should assist its members in their effort of

publishing articles, to protect their interest and those of the geo-

profession.

Publishers of journals, books, and other publications have

been eager to protect their interests by requiring acceptance of

extensive copyright conditions from authors. Authors of articles

are frequently not aware of the consequences of transferring

exclusive copyright to a publisher. For instance, by transferring

exclusive copyright to a publisher the authors may require

permission from the publisher to use and further develop

contents of their own article (text, figures, tables, or images).

A publisher, who has been awarded exclusive copyright, can

restrict the author’s reproduction of text, figures, tables, or

images. Publishers sometimes charge significant fees from the

author for reproducing of even limited information (e.g., figures

or images) from publications.

Considering the often ambiguous implications of transferring

author to give the publisher only exclusive publishing rights. In

this way, the author retains many of the important rights of

disseminating the information contained in the work.

ISSMGE PUBLISHING POLICY PROPOSAL

ISSMGE cannot directly change the attitude of publishers of

journals or books. However, as organizer of conferences and

symposia, ISSMGE can state requirements in negotiations with

publishers. ISSMGE conference organizers are frequently not

aware of the implications when negotiating publishing

contracts, and of the consequences to authors.

A draft of an ISSMGE Publishing Policy is outlined in the

attached document “ISSMGE Publishing Policy and Terms of

Use”. Attached is also a draft “Exclusive Publication

Agreement” which can be used by authors when negotiating

with publishers. It is based on an evaluation of guidelines

applied by publishers of journals but considers also the

legitimate interests of authors.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Task Force submits to the ISSMGE Board the following

recommendations:

1. This proposal is intended for publications (proceedings

of conferences and symposia), which are published

within the ISSMGE domain including international and

regional conferences as well as other events organized

by ISSMGE Technical Committees.

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