FASTR Act opens doors for reseach - CollegiateTimes.com

"The recently proposed Fair Access to Science & Technology Research Act, or FASTR, has the research community buzzing ... 'The legislation of the FASTR Act is consistent with the trend in the Federal Government over the last few years with moving toward greater public accessibility of research results,' said Elizabeth Tranter, the chief of staff at the Virginia Tech Office of the Vice President for Research.  As Tranter explained, one of the advantages this legislation would provide is it would enable federally-funded researchers to build on each other’s work, especially if data is made accessible to the public through creating websites or other publication methods. 'As scientists, it is our goal to conduct and publish research that will make the world a better place,' said Timothy E. Long, associate dean for strategic initiatives in Tech’s College of Science. 'The passing of the act would help not only the VT community, but the entire country, by enabling more awareness of data and issues using the increased public access to research.'  According to Tranter, significantly more guidance of what the government really expects for the data management plans has been provided in recent years.  'So many fields are becoming more computationally intensive, so when you look at a data management plan for a project, you must consider the requirement of publishing both the papers and the data sets that correlate with them,' Tranter said ... The act may have financial benefits for universities as well. In the past, research subscription prices have been extremely expensive, forcing university libraries to pick and choose between journal subscriptions. As a result, students and citizens have had difficulty accessing information they need. However, passing the act will help this issue.  As a result of the act, there may be increased dialogue  between agencies about policies that would impact federally-funded research and its accessibility at research universities,' Tranter said.  'In the research office at Virginia Tech, we are in constant communication with the university library in an effort to help all students and faculty comply with these new expectations.'  The research department at Tech is currently working on an information letter that will be sent out to the faculty explaining all the new research tools and opportunities available."