December 6, 2000--Science is now receiving inquiries about the submission of a paper from the research group at Celera Genomics, presenting findings about the human genome sequence. These inquiries have focused on the agreements between Science and Celera regarding the availability of the full sequence to other scientists and the general public. The following statement describes these agreements.

Our standing policy is that when a paper is published, archival data relevant to its results or methods must be deposited in a publicly accessible database. That principle has been fully upheld in our agreement with Celera, which has agreed to make the entire sequence available free of charge. Academic users may access it, do searches, download segments up to one megabase, publish their results, and seek intellectual property protection. (Longer downloads, up to and including the whole genome, are allowed but require a more formal agreement, signed by an institutional representative, not to redistribute the data.). There are no reach-through provisions or restrictions on publication of the researcher's results. Commercial users may access the data freely upon executing a Material Transfer Agreement stating that they will not commercialize their results or redistribute the sequence. Alternatively, they may subscribe for a fee, or seek a license. Science will also be keeping a copy of the database in escrow, to insure that there will be no changes in the ability of the public to have full access to the data.

The result is that any scientist can examine and work with Celera's sequence in order to verify or confirm the conclusions of the paper, perform their own basic research, and publish the results. The arrangement fulfills the spirit as well as the letter of our policy, which pertains to access and not to subsequent restrictions on commercial development. The objective of making available through peer review and publication data that is at the forefront of scientific research, and that might otherwise not be open to public scrutiny, is important for the goals of advancing science and public health. We believe we have accomplished this, in a unique situation, without setting a novel precedent.

Although traditionally publication of sequence data has been taken to require deposition in GenBank or one of the other centers of the International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration, our Information to Contributors has never stipulated a particular database. This is not an heretical notion. In an editorial published on March 23 of this year, Nature magazine stated "But there is no insistence in principle that deposition be in databases that are publicly funded -- the conditions of access and the community's confidence in the long-term sustainability and accessibility of the database are what count." In order to be certain that the community's confidence can be maintained, the one unique departure from our normal procedures is that we have agreed to hold a copy of the Celera data in escrow.

We have the utmost respect for the work of the International Sequence Database Collaboration. However, the situation is a complex one that has ramifications in international law. Even GenBank recognizes the complexities of intellectual property rights by the following statement in their overview: "The GenBank database is designed to provide and encourage access within the scientific community to the most up to date and comprehensive DNA sequence information. Therefore, NCBI places no restrictions on the use or distribution of the GenBank data. However, some submitters may claim patent, copyright, or other intellectual property rights in all or a portion of the data they have submitted. NCBI is not in a position to assess the validity of such claims, and therefore cannot provide comment or unrestricted permission concerning the use, copying, or distribution of the information contained in GenBank."

Throughout our dialog with Celera, we have sought advice from all sectors and have briefed the AAAS Board of Directors. We recognize, however, that this is an area in which policy is likely to evolve rapidly as private-sector activity in basic research expands. Science will encourage commentary and debate about the issues in its own pages, in the hope of assisting the development of broadly accepted standards.