UK government announces working group on research transparency

"With momentum building for open-access publishing and debate continuing to rage about access to clinical trial data, the UK government is setting up an independent working group to look at how UK-funded research findings can be made more widely available. The initiative was announced by Science Minister David Willetts at the British Science Festival in Bradford today. The working group, to be chaired by Dame Janet Finch, professor of sociology at Manchester University and independent co-chair of the Council for Science and Technology, will examine how access to research findings can be made more transparent and accessible, taking into account a range of considerations including parallel work on research data and other outputs being conducted by the Royal Society. The focus will be on academic publications, specifically journal articles, conference proceedings and monographs. The group’s work will be supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Publishers Association and Research Councils UK. The Research Information Network will provide the group’s secretariat...."