As a publisher and distributor of professional assessment materials, WPS discourages the dissemination of psychological tests to those not qualified to use and interpret them. It is our position that only qualified mental health professionals should have direct access to raw test data, test questions, answer sheets, scoring keys and interpretive materials, and that psychological assessment materials should be withheld from the public record. If a person believes that s/he requires access to these materials, and that person is not a qualified mental health professional, it is our position the person should review the materials solely under counsel of someone who is a qualified mental health professional, in which event photocopies should not be necessary.

Our concern goes beyond copyright, which of itself is an important consideration. By limiting the access of psychological tests to qualified mental health professionals, we serve to assist in protecting the security and integrity of test questions, to prevent possible compromise to the objectivity and fairness of the testing process, and to protect a person's test responses from unqualified interpretation.

For additional reference in this regard, see “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing”, jointly developed by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA) and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), and published by AERA (www.aera.net ). As an additional point of information see the article in the December 1999 edition of APA's American Psychologist (Vol. 54, No. 12, 1078), titled "Test Security: Protecting the Integrity of Tests."