Ethical Scholarly Publishing Practices, Copyright and Open Access: A View from Ethnomusicology and Anthropology

Drawing on ethnomusicological and anthropological theory alongside my own ethnographic experiences I will explore the notions of cultural ownership, writing and copyright further and how these relate to, for example, the United Nations Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous People and Western European ethical codes of conduct. I shall show that Western ethical codes of conduct define authorship crudely, particularly in the arts, humanities and the social sciences. I will argue that these definitions make little allowance for the cross-cultural co-creation of musical practice. Open access publishing and writing approaches may be one way in which academics might to some extent redress the balance.