Open Access News

From PLoS: "The report released today by the Science and Technology Committee of the United Kingdom's House of Commons, 'Scientific Publications: Free for All?' insists that the 'published output' of UK higher education institutions must be made available such that 'it can be read, free of charge, online,' and provides a practical roadmap for achieving this goal. 'The report makes clear that open access is the only acceptable outcome for publicly funded science,' said Public Library of Science (PLoS) co-founder Dr. Michael B. Eisen, 'and challenges scientists, publishers and research funders to make open access happen rapidly.'...In conjunction with other recent developments in the UK and the United States, this report suggests an international consensus growing in support of the open access movement."

From BMC: "Crucially, the report recommends that UK research funding bodies mandate free access to all their research findings. 'This will lead to a profound change in the way that scientific literature is published, and validates the author-pays "Open Access" publishing model which we at BioMed Central pioneered,' Tracz remarked....Some UK funders have already shown great support for the Open Access publishing model. By signing agreements with BioMed Central, JISC and NHS England have made it possible for many UK researchers to publish free of charge in Open Access journals. The Committee recommends that UK Research Councils follow this lead and make funds available to pay author charges. This would mean that all publicly funded UK researchers would be able to make their research findings Open Access, at no cost to themselves. 'This support will help to ensure the success of the author-pays model of publishing,' said Tracz."

From JISC: "JISC today welcomed the Report of the Science and Technology Select Committee and indicated its support for its recommendations, published today. These recommendations will enable research funded by the UK taxpayer to be made available to a wider readership than the present scholarly publication system allows....In particular the Science and Technology Select Committee’s support for institutional repositories will build upon the work of the JISC FAIR (Focus on Access to Institutional Resources) Programme. The institutions participating in the FAIR Programme have established repositories for the work of their academic staff, and the Committee’s support for these developments will encourage all UK academic authors to improve access to the results of publicly-funded research through this route."