[leish-l] Payment of images donated to the Wellcome Trust

[Jay Brturbo]

Dear Leish-Net Members

    I've been reading with interest the correspondence following on from 
the email of Dr Lisa Leonard (who is on my team at the Wellcome Trust), 
about payment for donated images. We are continuously looking to improve 
the way that we work and so any feedback, even critical, is genuinely 
helpful. I should make some comments by way of clarifying our position.

    The Publishing Group - International Health is a small department 
within the Wellcome Trust which develops multimedia educational and 
training materials for the international health community. We do this as 
a heavily subsidised activity in collaboration with external 
organisations (in the case of the Trypanosomatids CD which sparked this 
discussion, WHO/TDR). We are not in any shape or form a commercial or 
for-profit publisher, and much of our output is distributed free to users.

    Within this framework, and having finite departmental resources at 
our disposal, we have to make balanced judgements about where best to 
focus our resources to maximise the impact of our activities, the main 
thrust of which is in developing countries. As a matter of policy we do 
not make payments for use of donated materials such as images, nor do we 
ask that donors sign away their copyright to us. (Allowing Wellcome to 
use their images does not prevent the copyright holders from benefitting 
from their material commercially through for-profit publishers, as the 
donor retains the copyright). I appreciate that Drs Ashton and 
Killick-Kendrick question this judgement; it is one we have not taken 
lightly, and which we do revisit periodically.
    I should point out that the vast majority of our image donors are 
happy to work with us to see these materials more widely distributed in 
a not-for-profit educational context. We provide each donor with a 
complimentary copy of the published CD. Our work would not be possible 
without the generous support of the many academics over the years who 
have contributed images, and we are genuinely hugely indebted to them, 
as are the many users of the CDs who reap a direct tangible benefit. All 
donors are fully credited on each CD, but perhaps we do not say how 
grateful we are to donors often enough or loud enough.

    Researchers in the field will be aware of the investment which the 
Trust has made in leishmaniasis over the years (some £20 million since 
1995), and of the value of the research findings which have flowed.

    As some of Dr Killick-Kendrick's comments were made in relation to 
our Medical Photographic Library, the Head of that department at the 
Trust will I'm sure wish to clarify their position as well, lest Members 
feel that we are not responsive to their expressed concerns.

    Tim Beanland

                                                                                        
Dr T J Beanland
Manager, Publishing Group - International Health
The Wellcome Trust
215 Euston Road
London NW1 2BE

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7611 8585
Fax: +44 (0)20 7611 8270
Mailto: t.beanland at wellcome.ac.uk   
       
The Trust produces a wide range of publications, including Topics in 
International Health, a CD-ROM series developed as an educational 
resource in tropical medicine and international health. It is designed 
for healthcare professionals, researchers, and medical and life science 
students in developing and developed countries. For further information 
visit www.wellcome.ac.uk/tih and to view a sample of CD-ROM content and 
functionality visit www.wellcome.ac.uk/tih/sampler

The Wellcome Trust is a registered charity, no. 
210183.                           Its sole Trustee is The Wellcome Trust 
Limited, a company    registered in England, no. 2711000, whose 
registered office is 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE.