White House Delivers New Open-Access Policy That Has Activists Cheering - Research - The Chronicle of Higher Education

abernard102@gmail.com 2013-02-23

Summary:

"The Obama administration announced on Friday a major new policy aimed at increasing public access to federally financed research. The policy, delivered in a memorandum from John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, applies to federal agencies that spend more than $100-million a year to support research and development. In the memo, Mr. Holdren directed those agencies to develop 'clear and coordinated policies' to make the results of research they support publicly available within a year of publication. The new policy also requires scientific data from unclassified, federally supported research to be made available to the public 'to search, retrieve, and analyze.' Affected agencies have six months to decide how to carry out the policy. The White House's announcement emphasized the practical and economic benefits of sharing research. 'Scientific research supported by the federal government catalyzes innovative breakthroughs that drive our economy,' Mr. Holdren's memo stated. 'The results of that research become the grist for new insights and are assets for progress in areas such as health, energy, the environment, agriculture, and national security.' The memo also nodded to scientific publishers, saying the Obama administration recognizes that publishers provide 'valuable services,' such as coordinating peer review, 'that are essential for ensuring the high quality and integrity of many scholarly publications.' The memo called it 'critical that these services continue to be made available.' In a statement issued on Friday, the Association of American Publishers praised the new policy, which it said 'outlines a reasonable, balanced resolution of issues around public access to research funded by federal agencies.' Tom Allen, the group's president and chief executive officer, said that, 'in stark contrast to angry rhetoric and unreasonable legislation offered by some,' the Office of Science and Technology Policy had chosen 'a fair path that would enhance access for the public' while recognizing 'the critical role publishers play' in the process. Mr. Allen cautioned, however, that the policy's success depended on 'how the agencies use their flexibility to avoid negative impacts to the successful system of scholarly communication that advances science, technology, and innovation.' It was clear that a number of federal agencies already had preparations under way for how they would observe the new policy. For instance, the National Science Foundation immediately sent out a statement affirming its commitment to the principle of public access, saying it had already established a timetable for consultation and planning. It noted that the 'implementation details' were likely to vary by discipline 'and that new business models for universities, libraries, publishers, and scholarly and professional societies could emerge.' ... The Association of Research Libraries also greeted the news with enthusiasm, calling the just-announced policy 'historic.'  'This memorandum reflects how 21st-century science is conducted in order to advance discovery while, at the same time, it makes federal investment in research broadly available,' Wendy Lougee, the association's president and the university librarian at the University of Minnesota, said in a written statement. 'ARL commends the Obama administration for recognizing the importance and value of making the results of federally funded research publicly available.'  It was not immediately clear how the new policy would affect the prospects for the proposedFair Access to Science and Technology Research Act, a bipartisan bill introduced this month in Congress ... "

Link:

http://chronicle.com/article/White-House-Delivers-New/137549/?cid=pm

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.data oa.business_models oa.publishers oa.comment oa.libass oa.mandates oa.usa oa.legislation oa.green oa.advocacy oa.libraries oa.librarians oa.sparc oa.aap oa.funders oa.ostp oa.arl oa.access2research oa.fastr oa.obama_directive oa.repositories oa.policies

Date tagged:

02/23/2013, 10:00

Date published:

02/23/2013, 05:00