Stealing Student Content

The University of Iowa's famous Writing Program is under fire from its graduate students -- and the creative world at large -- for its new "Open Access" philosophy of publishing creative works of its students on the internet to be found and indexed by Google and other search engines.

That attack on the creative spark is not going over well in the creative community because no publisher would want to buy a book if it was already "published" for free on the internet.

This leads to a larger question: Who owns the Copyright? The student? Or the university?

Some universities outright claim at least co-ownership -- if not full ownership -- of anything created under their program mandate.

Few students understand that, by participating in a graduate program, they are forgiving any claims to Copyright ownership in order to be accepted into -- and sustained by -- their university program of study.

That student acquiescence of Copyright is automatic and invisible -- even if the student pays his or her own way in the program.

Many university film programs have always claimed Copyright from their students because, they argue, without their support and inspiration, the film would never have been produced and that makes the university at least a co-author in the creation of the work.

Every graduate student must begin to ask about Copyright ownership of their work before they accept any offer for advanced study.

Smart universities will use the Copyright card as an enticement -- "You create it, you own it!" That philosophy will entice excellent graduate students into their programs.

When a university guarantees its students full ownership of their creations, everyone wins because the original inspiration is legally protected from institutional thievery and future legal dismay.

Publication and Copyright Ownership

Few university faculty realize when they submit a paper for publication they are giving away their right to their Copyright.

Faculty members will submit research papers to the repository often unaware that they have signed away the rights to their work to a journal publisher, Ms. Davis said. “They are stunned that they have not retained the copyrights,” she said. “They’re vehemently adamant” that they still have rights to the work.

In our experience, few authors value their Copyright, and even fewer publishers respect an author's claim to want to own the Copyright from page one publication of their work.

As the original creator of the work, the Author, by default, owns the Copyright in full and cannot lose Copyright unless and until that right is explicitly released verbally, or by agreeing to a publication policy, or by acquiescing that right in writing.

Beware of what you say and what you sign!

Boles University Official Quarterly

The Scientific Aesthetic scholarly journal is now the official quarterly of Boles University!

The big idea here is there is a guiding Aesthetic purpose brought to Science and Medicine that is consciously employed or even unwittingly called upon to Heal based upon the genetic universal human desire to find meaning in shaping and creating beauty as demonstrated in the Arts and the Humanities.

We look to Kant and Hegel and Foucault and Aristotle and other great minds as cornerstones of inspiration for this journal. Making curious connections between Science and the Humanities and how they inform and influence each other is the purpose of the journal. Narrative Medicine, Health and Healing, Quantitative Methods, Imaginative Literature, Oral History Methodology, Drama and Music Therapy, Integrative Medicine, Qualitative Research and other therapeutic courses are all subsets of a Scientific Aesthetic.

If you are interested in submitting an article for publication in Scientific Aesthetic, please let us know by touching our email address in the left sidebar here!