New Public Access Legislation

In another bi-partisan effort to ensure public access to federally-funded research, Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) have introduced PAPS legislation in the house. The Public Access to Public Science (PAPS) act is intended to codify the language of February’s White House directive into legislation. However, as noted by SPARC, PAPS is not as strong a piece of legislation–in terms of maximizing access to publicly funded research– as FASTR.

So how will OA advocates react to this announcement? With muted enthusiasm, I would suspect. While PAPS is significantly weaker than FASTR on many fronts, it does illustrate that the push for access to federally funded research is now coming form multiple directions within the legislative branch.

Remember to encourage your Provosts to sign the Open Letter in Support of FASTR here.

Also of interest, Peter Suber’s side-by-side comparison of PAPS and FASTR.