My recent posting to this forum addressed the interesting trend that publishers are starting to create and distribute tools to assist authors in creating and validating "database" entries to be associated with electronic versions of articles they are preparing. Given that such "Added value" or "enhanced" articles might contain up to 100 or so molecules, perhaps with a great deal of associated property and spectral information and perhaps expressed in eg XML/CML, this must constitute by recent rules a copyrightable database. Created by the author, the initial copyright at least must presumably reside with the author. Of course, a publisher would wish to use such individual microdatabases to aggregate into much larger databases, this being part of their own "added value" contribution to the publishing process. Presumably then, the publisher will wish the copyright owners to transfer that copyright to them, the publisher. This of course many (not all) publishers already do with the text and images associated with more conventional articles. It will be interesting to see how this process might evolve. For example, in recognition that each microdatabase will add value to the publishers larger database, should the author charge the publisher for the transfer of the database? Presumably, in turn the publisher will charge the e-journal reader for the right to access and use any larger database. If its accepted that authors might be able to "sell" their microdatabase to the publisher, then what might the going rate be? Per molecule? Is a sensible formula even possible? Perhaps of course the publisher might instead ask that if the author wants to gain from the database accretion process, they should hand over the microdatabase free of charge to the publisher. I wonder if these issues have been resolved anywhere, by any publisher, of chemical or indeed non chemical journals. Dr Henry Rzepa, Dept. Chemistry, Imperial College, LONDON SW7 2AY; mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk; Tel (44) 171 594 5774; Fax: (44) 171 594 5804. URL: http://www.ch.ic.ac.uk/rzepa/ If my digital email signature is invalid, download a new root at http://www.belsign.be/en/services/receive/install-ca.html chemweb: A list for Chemical Applications of the Internet. To post to list: mailto:chemweb@ic.ac.uk Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/chemweb/ To (un)subscribe, mailto:majordomo@ic.ac.uk the following message; (un)subscribe chemweb List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@ic.ac.uk)