Technology Review: Science Goes Medieval

Marcos Oliveira de Carvalho • June 15, 2002

Technology Review: Science Goes Medieval

``Geneticists agree: hoarding information hurts science-and public health.

``A few years back, I fretted in print that, given the mounting proprietary claims in some scientific fields, we risked entering a new kind of Dark Ages, replete with warring fiefdoms tightly guarding their knowledge. Okay, I admit the metaphor was a bit heavy handed. But with the `new economy' so obsessed with intellectual property, I could see just how frequently secrecy was replacing the collegial, open exchange of scientific information.

``At the time, many mainstream pundits scoffed at my gloomy assessment. BusinessWeek wittily dubbed the idea `patent nonsense.' (Boy, that stung!) Well, I'm sticking to my guns, especially after seeing the results of a survey of geneticists published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association (available for a fee at http://www.jama.ama-assn.org). I don't know what the BusinessWeek folks would say, but to my eye, the problem of secrecy looks worse than ever.

``In this study, a team of researchers, led by Eric Campbell at Massachusetts General Hospital, surveyed 1,240 geneticists at 100 universities. Among the findings: Nearly three-quarters of the scientists (73 percent) report that the withholding of data among their colleagues is slowing progress in their field. Sixty-three percent say the situation is harming relationships with their peers. More than half hold that their colleagues' refusals to share data or materials have adversely affected research and the education of their students. In short, they are not a happy lot.''

Full story:
http://techreview.com/articles/shulman0602.asp

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