British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Access and Conduct

Copyright law and access to existing research can have strong repercussions for the production and publication of new research in the humanities and social sciences. The British Academy aims to represent these disciplines in consultations, to maintain their excellence.

• A Response from the British Academy to the Royal Society’s call for evidence - Science as a public enterprise: opening up scientific information (August 2011)
  The Academy supports the release, disclosure and sharing of scientific data, and believes that government and other publicly funded datasets should be made available for secondary analysis, provided that confidentiality is protected.
  
  
• Joint letter to Government on Hargreaves recommendations (June 2011)
  The British Academy and others sent a letter to Jeremy Hunt and David Willetts encouraging the Government to implement the recommendations of the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property. Subsequently, on 3 August 2011 the Government announced its endorsement of Professor Hargreaves’ recommendations.
  
  
• Submission to RCUK consultation on ‘A Code of Conduct and Policy on the Governance of Good Research Conduct' (October 2008)
  The British Academy supports RCUK's commitment to research of the highest quality and makes six key recommendations to ensure good research conduct.

• Joint Guidelines on Copyright and Academic Research – Guidelines for researchers and publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences (published jointly by the BA and the Publishers Association – April 2008)
  These are intended to advise those in the academic field who might have to seek or grant copyright permission, examining both  the general situation and specific examples.

• Taking Forward the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property: Proposed Changes to Copyright Exceptions – The British Academy Submission to the UKIPO Consultation (April 2008)
  In response to UKIPO, the British Academy considers how the copyright system affects research, with particular attention to questions about the exceptions for research and private study and for libraries and archives.

• Review of the 30-year rule (March 2008)
  In their response to the independent review of the 30-year rule, the Academy recommends that:
  -  the 30-year rule should be revised, because it is an impediment to the development of historical research;
  -  the rule should be set at 20 years, provided that the current safeguards and exemptions remain;
  -  careful consideration should be given to the cost of any changes that are implemented, and steps should be taken to ensure that the process is properly resourced.

• The work and operation of the Copyright Tribunal: A response to the inquiry by the House of Commons Innovation, Universities and Skills Committee (Jan 2008)
  The British Academy's comments on the work of the Copyright Tribunal focus on recommendation 29 and the granting of licences for orphan works.

• Copyright and research in the humanities and social sciences (September 2006)
  In response to the concerns voiced by its Fellowship that the copyright exemptions were often not achieving the intended purpose, the British Academy set up a review under the chairmanship of Professor John Kay, to examine the role of copyright exemptions in the promotion of scholarship. The Executive Summary and Guidelines are available as separate documents.

• Response to the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property (April 2006)
  The British Academy argues that the current balance of intellectual property law does more to protect existing material than to facilitate the production of original material.