Editorial: If it's posted, is it published? Intellectual property, conferences and social media

Abstract

Would you be tempted to take a photo of someone else's slides at a conference or research seminar? Perhaps it maybe of interest to a colleague, or has a reference you may wish to refer to at a later stage? Should you or would you then share these over social media? In today's technological age, note taking during lectures and conferences seems old fashioned. One of us (CF) recently had the experience of attending a late-breaking clinical trials session at a prestigious international conference. Clinicians were sat with bated breath on the edge of their seat, awaiting the results of the latest RCT of a novel anticoagulant for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation. As the conference organizers embargoed these findings, the excitement built and clinicians, students and health journalists were all waiting in anticipation. Every clinician in the room had a mobile device at the ready as the results slide was projected onto the large conference wall, rapidly snapped by all. These results were instantaneously published and broadcast; 'Tweeted', 'Grammed, 'Facebooked', 'Pinned, 'Tubed, posted to Tumblr, blogged, and emailed, at low cost, right around the globe. Simultaneously, study findings were intentionally released online in the peer-reviewed literature, and the link to the study was also shared and discussed and debated extensively over social media.