ARMA UK - News

The UK Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA), the Association for University Research and Industry Links (AURIL), and PraxisUnico released a major Statement of Support for Open Access to Research Results and Data (March 2012). Excerpt: "[1] The three associations wish to record their support for Open Access as a means of enabling wide access to research results, which will lead to the productive use of those results in both academic and non-academic settings....[3] We believe that Open Access can potentially support innovation and the inventive process, helping to generate a faster translation of research into practice. [4] We believe that Open Access is entirely consistent with intellectual property (IP) protection....[6] We support easy identification of and access to the data underpinning research results, to enable replication and data mining....[8] We believe that research management, assessment and evaluation are easier if research outputs are openly available, as this promotes innovation and competition within and between research organisations....[9] Commitment to Open Access needs to be tempered with both technical and economic reality....At a time of pressure on resources, the ability of funders, institutions, and researchers to provide Open Access will need to be balanced against other priorities, notwithstanding the highly desirable outcomes that Open Access may offer. We support efforts involving all stakeholders working together to produce sustainable solutions...." http://www.arma.ac.uk/files/guest/Information/ARMA-PraxisUnico-AURILOAStatementMarch2012.pdf