US legislators table tough OA bill

A hard-hitting newly-tabled piece of US legislation could radically alter access to US-funded scientific research and embarrass the EC over its lack of clarity and action in its report on scientific publishing last month.

Hard on the heels of a new EC report , Senators Joseph Lieberman and John Cornyn have proposed that US-funded research papers should be available freely within six months.

The Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 states that every federal agency with a research budget over $100 million would have to implement a public access policy, which would require researchers funded by the US government to submit an article to a peer-review journal and to ensure free online access is available within six months.

Lieberman and Cornyn also demand that scientists should have to ensure their manuscript is lodged with a stable digital repository for free public access.

The proposal has been widely welcomed. Gigi Sohn, president of the Public Knowledge advocacy group, said the bill “sends a signal” that taxpayers deserve access and that research should be shared with “everyone”.

The EC study passed up the opportunity to be as clear as Cornyn and Leiberman, stating in A1 of its findings that the EC should “promote and support the archiving of publications in open repositories after a time period to be discussed with publishers”.

Publisher Matthew Cockerill at BioMed Central welcomed the EC report, saying: “It confirms that scientists and funders are getting a poor deal from the traditional publishing system.”

But open access advocate Jan Velterop was dismissive. “It’s just another report and it will not change a lot,” he said.

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!