Could Backlash to Research Works Act Boost FRPAA’s Odds of Passage?

“Congress last week introduced the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2012 (FRPAA), a bill that would mandate free public online access to taxpayer-funded research for all federal agencies with extramural research budgets over $100 million. The bill was introduced in identical versions in both the House and the Senate, staking out a position counter to the publisher-backed Research Works Act (RWA), a bill that would bar federal agencies from requiring public access as a condition of funding. It is the third time FRPAA has been introduced since 2006. But this time, amid backlash to the RWA, does FRPAA have a shot at passage? ... “Realistically, any legislation will have an uphill battle in an election year,” observed Heather Joseph, executive director of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). And, she notes, FRPAA has an added challenge: it has been referred to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government, the committee chaired by the sponsor of the Research Works Act, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Still, public access advocates like Joseph sense an opening and are preparing to push hard to advance FRPAA... Joseph notes, with the public and the research community engaged with the issue on an unprecedented level, from editorials in major publications, to recognition of the issue by public advocacy groups, and even a petition drive among scientific researchers in which nearly 5600 signatories thus far have pledged not to publish with, referee, or do editorial work for leading STM publisher Elsevier, partly due to its support of the RWA. ‘One thing is for sure,’ Joseph told PW, ‘the nature of the conversation on the [public access] issue has changed. The RWA debacle has helped to engage researchers on this issue in droves, so we’re seeing a more substantive discussion of how opening up access to this information helps scientists do their work...’”