We are sad to report, once again, the failure of the California stem cell agency to comply with its own promise of the highest standards of openness and transparency.
We have written repeatedly about the failure of CIRM [California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the agency disbursing state funds for stem-cell research] to provide adequate background material in a timely fashion on the important matters on its agenda. Even some of its own directors have complained publicly.
The most recent example is Friday's meeting of the Oversight Committee. For example if you care about open access to CIRM-funded findings, you would be hard pressed to determine whether that is a subject to be considered at the session -- aside from the IP draft rules.
But apparently it is. There is a brief mention on the agenda of a proposed venture with the Public Library of Science. If you dig into that enterprise, it is all about making scientific findings widely available. Why isn't there additional information available from CIRM about the venture? There is a bit of irony in all this – an apparent openness proposal that is basically being advanced in secret.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/09/2006 10:50:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
