Open Text Book

Textbooks on military medicine from the Borden Institute

November 29, 2007

The Borden Institute, part of the US Army Medical Department Center & School publish a series of textbooks which

constitute a comprehensive treatise on the art and science of military medicine, covering such diverse topics as military preventive medicine, military medical ethics, harsh environments, and care of combat injuries.

Titles in the series include:

• Recruit Medicine (2006)
• Military Preventive Medicine: Mobilization and Deployment, Vol 2 (2005)
• Military Medical Ethics Vol. 1 (2003)
• Military Preventive Medicine: Mobilization and Deployment, Vol 1 (2003)
• Ophthalmic Care of the Combat Casualty (2003)
• Medical Aspects of Harsh Environments, Vol 1 (2002)
• Medical Aspects of Harsh Environments, Vol 2 (2002)
• Rehabilitation of the Injured Combatant, Vol 2 (1999)
• Rehabilitation of the Injured Combatant, Vol 1 (1998)
• Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare (1997)
• Anesthesia and Perioperative Care of the Combat Casualty (1995)
• War Psychiatry (1995)
• Military Psychiatry: Preparing in Peace for War (1994)
• Military Dermatology (1994)
• Occupational Health: The Soldier and the Industrial Base (1993)
• Conventional Warfare: Ballistic, Blast, and Burn Injuries (1991)
• Medical Consequences of Nuclear Warfare (1989)

Individual books are linked to on the published volumes page and are made available as a collection of chapters in PDF format.

Many of the textbook chapters seem to be produced by military personnel as part of their official duties – and hence are effectively in the public domain. This is reinforced by the privacy and security page which states:

Information presented on this web site is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.

However, any material which is not produced by military personnel or US government employees in the course of their duty may be copyrighted – and hence permission should be sought. To emphasize this, it is stated in the front matter of the series:

NO COPYRIGHTED PARTS OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL (INCLUDING PHOTOCOPY, RECORDING, OR ANY INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM) WITHOUT PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER OR COPYRIGHT OWNER

Hence while in principle the contents of many of these books should be open, I’ve also tagged this post ‘non-open’ as its worth checking. It would be great if the Borden Institute made it clearer for each book what material is in the public domain and what material is copyrighted!

Filed under: medicine, non-open textbooks, open textbooks