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Oxford University Press ‘Unethical,’ Charges Qimron

Dead Sea Scroll scholar Elisha Qimron of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has accused Oxford University Press of “unethical” conduct because it failed to consult him before giving BAR permission to reprint the reconstructed text of a fragmentary scroll known as MMT in its November/December issue (“For This You Waited 35 Years,” BAR 20:06).

Qimron has long been involved in litigation in an effort to retain exclusive control of his reconstruction of MMT.

Oxford University Press publishes the official Dead Sea Scroll series, known as Discoveries in the Judean Desert. Volume X of this series, by Qimron and Harvard professor John Strugnell, is the official publication of MMT. This volume is unique, however, in that the copyright is in Qimron’s name, rather than in the name of Oxford University Press. Nevertheless, the volume instructs those seeking permission to reprint material to apply to Oxford University Press.