7. DNA as Academic Property

Chapter Summary

This chapter discusses the "essential tension" between the need for academic researchers to have unconditional access to unpublished research data and the exclusive database-right. It examines the current Practice governing access to research data in biomedical academia: capitalism. It also discusses the outcome of two surveys into the actual willingness of biomedical researchers to grant access to "their" research data. One survey was held among human geneticists worldwide; the second survey was held among all principal investigators in the area of specific biomedical research in the Netherlands. The chapter reviews a variety of reasons why, in practice, access may be denied or subjected to specific conditions. Finally, the chapter discusses the Policy, how can the principle, the practice and the law pertaining to access to unpublished research data be converted into an effective data-access policy designed to grease the wheels of publicly funded biomedical research?

Keywords: biomedical research; capitalism; DNA; effective data-access policy; human geneticists; Netherlands