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- Academic tradition requires publication of all significant research results. Free exchange of ideas and information within the institution is also traditional, for example, in student seminars on research in progress.
- It is a challenge for investigators to harmonize these traditions of openness with the requirements for protecting ownership rights to intellectual property, described previously. A degree of compromise is inevitable in some situations, as described below in this section.
Government Funding
The academic tradition of openness is supported by federal funding agencies, but with qualifications. An example is the NSF policy statement on Sharing of Findings, Data, and Other Research Products:
- NSF expects significant findings from research and education activities it supports to be promptly submitted for publication, with authorship that accurately reflects the contributions of those involved. It expects investigators to share with other researchers, at no more than incremental cost and within a reasonable time, the data, samples, physical collections, and other supporting materials created or gathered in the course of the work. It also encourages awardees to share software and inventions or otherwise act to make the innovations they embody widely useful and usable.
- Adjustments and, where essential, exceptions may be allowed to safeguard the rights of individuals and subjects, the validity of results, or the integrity of collections or to accommodate legitimate interests of investigators.
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