India’s science adviser backs bold plan to tear down journal paywalls | Science|Business

"The Indian government’s principal science adviser says the country is joining Plan S, a bold initiative launched last year by a group of European funders to ensure that, by 2020, taxpayer-funded research results are made immediately open.

Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, a molecular biologist who has been advising prime minister Narendra Modi’s government for almost a year, outlined the benefits of Plan S in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

“Access, dissemination [and] use of knowledge should be free; allowing all to build on research funded by the Indian government,” VijayRaghavan wrote.

His support gives fresh momentum to the controversial Plan S, which has received backing from the European Research Council and 13 national funding bodies, including agencies in France, the Netherlands and the UK. The two large philanthropic funders, Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are also on board.

Others around the world are considering whether to join the scheme that is simultaneously hailed for knocking down paywalls and criticised as an attack on academic freedom.

China’s National Science Library, its National Science and Technology Library and the Natural Science Foundation of China, have all voiced strong support for Plan S. The National Science and Technology Council of Zambia has recently joined, and backers of the plan hope others will follow...."