AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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Report on Science and Human Rights

Fall/Winter 2005 Vol XXV, No. 2

New Horizons for Science and Intellectual Property in the Public Interest

Michael Kisielewski
Program Associate, Science and Human Rights Program

The past year has been exciting and productive for the project on Science and Intellectual Property in the Public Interest (SIPPI). SIPPI’s activities in the areas of open access publishing, the effects of patenting on scientific research, and its work on the issue of humanitarian access to pharmaceutical and agricultural innovation culminated in the release of two reports and the publication of an article in an online journal.

In October 2005, SIPPI cosponsored a project that resulted in a report on the financial and non-financial effects of open access journals on traditional scholarly journals. Not long thereafter, SIPPI published a report based on a pilot survey of over 1,000 AAAS members, to address the effects of patenting on scientific research. Both reports received attention from the media, including an article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education on the latter report.

Finally, in November 2005, SIPPI staff published an article in the online journal Innovation Strategy Today. The article, “Facilitating humanitarian access to pharmaceutical and agricultural innovation,” examines intellectual property approaches that can assist low-income countries and disadvantaged groups in accessing health and agricultural innovations.

The upcoming year promises to be equally productive and successful for SIPPI. A major international survey of scientists will be conducted as a follow-up to SIPPI’s pilot survey report, resulting in several new reports and a series of international symposia to discuss their findings. SIPPI also will continue to explore the most pressing issues on the subject of intellectual property in science, including open access journals and archiving, patent reform legislation and the protection of traditional knowledge in scientific innovation.