Open Access to Research

Sign the Petition to Make Publicly Funded Research Public

By Sherwin Siy | May 24, 2012

Each year, the federal government spends billions of dollars funding all sorts of important scientific research. But when that research produces important results, accessing that vital information requires subscriptions to a huge variety of journals. Subscribing to all of the publications necessary is beyond the reach of any researcher, and even strains the budgets of major universities and other research institutions. Even then, those libraries are often only accessible to their affiliated faculties and students, not the wider world of users—including the taxpayers who funded the research in the first place.

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Each year, the federal government spends billions of dollars funding all sorts of important scientific research. But when that research produces important results, accessing that vital information requires subscriptions to a huge variety of journals. Subscribing to all of the publications necessary is beyond the reach of any researcher, and even strains the budgets of major universities and other research institutions. Even then, those libraries are often only accessible to their affiliated faculties and students, not the wider world of users—including the taxpayers who funded the research in the first place.

Each year, the federal government spends billions of dollars funding all sorts of important scientific research. But when that research produces important results, accessing that vital information requires subscriptions to a huge variety of journals. Subscribing to all of the publications necessary is beyond the reach of any researcher, and even strains the budgets of major universities and other research institutions. Even then, those libraries are often only accessible to their affiliated faculties and students, not the wider world of users—including the taxpayers who funded the research in the first place.

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Each year, the federal government spends billions of dollars funding all sorts of important scientific research. But when that research produces important results, accessing that vital information requires subscriptions to a huge variety of journals. Subscribing to all of the publications necessary is beyond the reach of any researcher, and even strains the budgets of major universities and other research institutions. Even then, those libraries are often only accessible to their affiliated faculties and students, not the wider world of users—including the taxpayers who funded the research in the first place.

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The Digital Public Library Of America: How Would You Like To Access Online Resources?

By Kara Novak | October 25, 2011

It was suggested that a Scannebago should be driving around the United States scanning public library works to make them available online. (I envision the Scannebago as a cross between a Winnebago, a Google Street View car and the pickup truck from Twister, but you might picture a more creative image.) Regardless of the process, many public libraries have scanned works over the past few years and now it is time to organize the digital works for public access across the country—and eventually internationally. Last year, the Berkman Center for Internet and Technology, with funding from the Alfred P.

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It was suggested that a Scannebago should be driving around the United States scanning public library works to make them available online. (I envision the Scannebago as a cross between a Winnebago, a Google Street View car and the pickup truck from Twister, but you might picture a more creative image.) Regardless of the process, many public libraries have scanned works over the past few years and now it is time to organize the digital works for public access across the country—and eventually internationally. Last year, the Berkman Center for Internet and Technology, with funding from the Alfred P. [#title] => [#description] => [#printed] => 1 ) [#title] => [#description] => [#children] =>

It was suggested that a Scannebago should be driving around the United States scanning public library works to make them available online. (I envision the Scannebago as a cross between a Winnebago, a Google Street View car and the pickup truck from Twister, but you might picture a more creative image.) Regardless of the process, many public libraries have scanned works over the past few years and now it is time to organize the digital works for public access across the country—and eventually internationally. Last year, the Berkman Center for Internet and Technology, with funding from the Alfred P. [#printed] => 1 ) [links] => Array ( [node_read_more] => Array ( [title] => Read more [href] => node/6326 [attributes] => Array ( [title] => Read the rest of The Digital Public Library Of America: How Would You Like To Access Online Resources?. ) ) ) )

Open Access

Research encourages innovation, enriches education, stimulates the economy, and spurs further research and discovery. But what good would research be if you couldn’t access it? Open access (OA) literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.

This movement has been so successful in the world of peer-reviewed journal articles because researchers are very differently situated from most musicians and moviemakers. First, most scholarly journals do not buy their articles or pay royalties to authors. Second, most journal articles are based on publicly-funded research—that is, funded by taxpayers.

Citizens and policy-makers immediately see the logic of providing public access to the results of publicly-funded research, especially in fields with great potential for public benefit, such as medicine.

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Deadline Coming Up for Open Access to Research Comments

By John Bergmayer | January 20, 2010

Follow @bergmayer

If you think that the public should have access to the scientific research it pays for, tomorrow (January 21) is the deadline for submitting your view to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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If you think that the public should have access to the scientific research it pays for, tomorrow (January 21) is the deadline for submitting your view to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

If you think that the public should have access to the scientific research it pays for, tomorrow (January 21) is the deadline for submitting your view to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

[#title] => [#description] => [#printed] => 1 ) [#title] => [#description] => [#children] =>

If you think that the public should have access to the scientific research it pays for, tomorrow (January 21) is the deadline for submitting your view to the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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FRPAA re-introduced in the Senate

By Peter Suber | July 02, 2009

On June 25, Senators John Cornyn and Joe Lieberman re-introduced the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA, S.1373) in the Senate.

This is an important development. FRPAA would essentially extend the NIH open-access policy across the federal government. Most federally-funded researchers would be required to deposit their peer reviewed manuscripts in a suitable open access repository at the time of acceptance for publication, and the repositories would be required to release the open access copies no later than six months after publication.

Currently, the NIH and the Institute of Education Sciences (within the Dept of Ed) are the only federal agencies with similar policies, and both of them allow 12 month delays, not just the FRPAA six month delay. FRPAA would apply to all unclassified research funded in whole or part by agencies whose budgets for extramural research are $100 million/year or greater.

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