Michel Gelobter (1992) Public Data-archiving: a Fair Return on Publicly Funded Research . Psycoloquy: 3(56) Data Archive (3)
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Psycoloquy 3(56): Public Data-archiving: a Fair Return on Publicly Funded Research

PUBLIC DATA-ARCHIVING: A FAIR RETURN ON PUBLICLY FUNDED RESEARCH
Commentary on Skoyles on Data-Archiving

Michel Gelobter
School of International and Public Affairs
Columbia University
New York, NY 10021

mg78@cunixf.columbia.edu or gelobter@garnet.berkeley.edu

Abstract

Skoyles's (1992) idea is excellent. Some form of the process Skoyles recommends should be adopted throughout the research world, but he fails to take on the thorny issue of data ownership directly. The Federal Government could adopt guidelines for the status of data aquired through government subsidy. They would specify the format and availability of all data gathered at taxpayer expense. This proposal would revolutionize the research "business" by putting cutting edge results in the public domain. I believe that the research our taxes pay for should not be channelled to private entrepreneurs. The profit from developing and using publicly funded research can still be guaranteed through licensing, but the monopoly "rent" derived from the control of data and results must be returned to the public domain.

Keywords

data archiving, deception, electronic retrieval, error detection, ftp, fraud, meta-analysis, statistics, public domain, public property, federal funding.

References