[Taxacom] taxonomy, copyright, open access and Bouchout Declaration on Open Biodiveristy Knowledge Management

[Donat Agosti]

Dear colleagues

Here the most recent study on biodiversity information and copyright. It is looking at the European legislation that might have an impact on our sciences and ends with some conclusions what ought to be changed.

"Open exchange of scientific knowledge and European copyright: The case of biodiversity information" was published in Issue 414 of ZooKeys, http://www.pensoft.net/journals/zookeys/article/7717/abstract/open-exchange-of-scientific-knowledge-and-european-copyright-the-case-of-biodiversity-information, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.414.7717.

This is a study we run to understand from a legal point of view the ramification of copyright to biodiversity sciences. Earlier contributions can be found here http://plazi.org/?q=plazi_publications.

This is also partially supported by the EU-funded pro-iBiosphere  (http://www.pro-ibiosphere.eu/ ) project to propose a blue print of a future Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management System in Europe, clearly a contribution to a global system.

The final meeting will take place next week in Meise, Belgium (http://wiki.pro-ibiosphere.eu/wiki/Pro-iBiosphere_Final_Event_Meise_%28Brussels%29,_June_2014 ). Part of the event is the signing of the Bouchout Declaration on Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management (http://plazi.org/?q=bouchout ).  The primary goal is to provide Open Access to research results and data in biodiversity institutions and the creation and maintenance of persistent identifiers allowing citing and direct access to the digital objects of the holdings. Please look at it and support it!

Donat