The Obama administration has launched a study of the open access model of publishing in which materials are made available free online. The Office of Science and Technology Policy is in the process of collecting comments in a online public forum concerning public access to federally funded research. While the comment period was supposed to end January 7th, it has been extended to January 21st.
OSTP has many blog entries describing the process. Scroll down to the bottom to view comments.
Excerpt from the introductory posting explains the Administration’s intentions:
The Administration is seeking public input on access to publicly-funded research results, such as those that appear in academic and scholarly journal articles. Currently, the National Institutes of Health require that research funded by its grants be made available to the public online at no charge within 12 months of publication. The Administration is seeking views as to whether this policy should be extended to other science agencies and, if so, how it should be implemented.
The Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President and the White House Open Government Initiative is launching a “Public Access Policy Forum” to invite public participation in thinking through what the Federal government’s policy should be with regard to public access to published federally-funded research results.
