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Re: Research Contract Publications Clause Stuart A. Ross 25 Sep 1996 14:22 EST

I agree with the response by Jim Brett.  A lot will depend on the
intended or likely nature of the publication.  You may not even be
able to control the publisher, as he notes.

Most importantly, it sounds as if the sponsor does not trust UofI
or is afraid of the likely results in any hands.  That's not the
right basis for a researcher-sponsor relationship; maybe you need
to rethink the relationship rather than the contract.

A more conventional approach is to give the sponsor 60 or 90 days
to review a publication before submission and promise to consider
their comments in good faith.  Also, this time period is often
used for the sponsor to identify and remove info that is proprietary,
which you could promise in advance to do.

Some other, less conventional, approaches would be to:
-- offer to delay any publication for X months or years
-- allow the researchers to publish their methods and approaches
 but not the results of this study
-- simply acknowledge that the sponsor has the right to submit a rebuttal
 to the same publisher
Depending on the researchers' needs for publication and their attitudes
towards "academic freedom", these compromises might work.

Good Luck

Stuart Ross
Cal State Fullerton
xxxxxx@fullerton.edu