Like so much else about the publishing and information industry, the Interent is just making entrenched practices (problems?) more apparent. UMI (University Microfilms, a division of Bell and Howell) has been selling print and microfilm copies of theses for years. Yes, it sells the copies, (when available, which is most of the time), as well as maintaning a database (print! and electronic) of disseration abstracts.
Any time that you publish, you should be careful to read, and modify, your agreement with the publisher so that you can retain as many rights to your intellectual property as possible and still get published.
In the case of universities signing away your rights for you...another iffy practice that has bee going on for years. Universities may claim that your intellectual property is *theirs.* I am not sure how this usually works for graduate students - but universities have policies that lay claim to some of the intellectual work that their faculty produce.
Information has been money for a long time.
Slashdot Mirror
Like so much else about the publishing and information industry, the Interent is just making entrenched practices (problems?) more apparent. UMI (University Microfilms, a division of Bell and Howell) has been selling print and microfilm copies of theses for years. Yes, it sells the copies, (when available, which is most of the time), as well as maintaning a database (print! and electronic) of disseration abstracts. Any time that you publish, you should be careful to read, and modify, your agreement with the publisher so that you can retain as many rights to your intellectual property as possible and still get published. In the case of universities signing away your rights for you...another iffy practice that has bee going on for years. Universities may claim that your intellectual property is *theirs.* I am not sure how this usually works for graduate students - but universities have policies that lay claim to some of the intellectual work that their faculty produce. Information has been money for a long time.