1,377 votes
Require open access for publicly-funded research
Require open access to the results of non-classified research funded by taxpayers. Extend the exemplary policy now in place at the NIH to all federal agencies.
How many votes?
Require open access to the results of non-classified research funded by taxpayers. Extend the exemplary policy now in place at the NIH to all federal agencies.
12th ranked
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hopeyj
As someone who works in a medical library and sees daily how much it costs taxpayer-funded institutions such as hospitals and universities to obtain articles about the results of studies funded with taxpayer dollars, I am amazed that we even have to fight for the open access policies of the NIH. That data belongs to the taxpayers. Thank you for ensuring that justice and wisdom prevail.
6 days ago
RbtShelton
I believe our next major breakthrough in productivity will be powered by extending Internet technologies to confidential information, for example in health care. For this innovation to occur, an environment of trust must exist and therefore personal privacy must be assured. But another part of an environment of trust is that the results of research be open as this will accelerate needed advances.
6 days ago
sterry
I have two kids with a genetic disease. More than 6000 genetic diseases burden more than 25 million Americans. We have evidence that public banking of the genome and ‘the commons’ of information are thriving, let's do the same for peer reviewed information. We have plenty of scientific and economic challenges, we don't need the artificial barrier of gated access. Let's get the job done now!
7 days ago
sderisi
The new CTO of the Obama administration should make it a priority to require open access <http://www.plos.org/oa/definition.html> to peer-reviewed literature.
12 days ago
M.C. Lee
European countries have embraced OA, the US still lags. Domestic issues aside, what effect does our inflexible reliance upon proprietary distribution have on our standing in the international community of research, teaching, and learning? If we fail to address OA, we may not only find ourselves inextricably growing a domestic underclass but further alienating ourselves in the global community.
13 days ago
jhudean
This recommendation is reasonable, necessary, fair and feasible. Enacting it as government-wide policy should be a priority for the new administration.
13 days ago
horstie
100%
14 days ago
bhasker
I Welcome Open Access all the time, because Knowledge should be always shared to reach the heights in scientific development and society development
14 days ago
Stefania Arabito
*Public* is somehow becoming an outmoded concept in Italy at the moment. Please keep up the good work!
15 days ago
chlaz1982
Please promote science! There is just one way. Knowledge must be free to all!
16 days ago
laurentromary
This is just a great orientation. This should probably be integrated into a global scientific information policy providing a roadmap for the management of scientific digital asset (research data, publications) and identify what kind of infrastructures should be thus supported (repositories).
16 days ago
Richard Smith
This would be a great boon not just to the US but also the broader world, particularly the developing world.
16 days ago
suvarsha
A policy that unlocks knowledge generated through public funds into the public domain will only add to the quality of content on the Internet. One cannot possibly imagin all the richness that will come out of the use of this corpus of knowledge in a Web 2.0 world. We cannot afford not to do it!
16 days ago
eddalterio
Short of a turnaround in our economic direction and permanent peace, it seems to me that this issue is so very important to us now, and , to the generations behind us. You have my vote!
ed dalterio
16 days ago
bonedog84
ImreSimon... is that not part of the NIH policy? If so (and I thought so), then it's already included.
16 days ago
ImreSimon
The mandate should be amended to guarantee that authors retain enough of their copyrights to allow the distribution of the peer-reviewed research paper on a non-commercial basis, independently of the publisher, possibly after a short embargo period. Such an extension of the mandate would be instrumental to conceive scientific knowledge as a commons pool resource.
16 days ago
Quiact
Publicly-funded research is the only way research should be done to prevent bias and corruption of the scientific method which has occured when others have performed or sponsored research for their own monetary benefit.
16 days ago
tulsadean
The research library community, led by ARL and SPARC, have helped craft sensible public policy that does not threaten the scholarly publishing community while providing open access to the results of taxpayer-funded research. With new, progressive leadership in Washington, the U.S. has an opportunity to lead the world in this important arena.
16 days ago
bonedog84
I'm 100% behind this. I'm a grad student at Caltech, where 95% of the research is publicly funded, and 10% is publicly available. And that's BETTER than most universities! The taxpayers pay for research twice: once for the research itself, and once for themselves (or even the researchers!) to read it.
Also, specifically, please oppose HR 6845, which would drastically hurt open-access.
16 days ago
jknauer
Open and complete access to all data generated by taxpayer financed projects is essential to restore confidence in the work that is being done at many federal, state and local agencies. It's important that we go one step further than just creating many isolated silos of open data. I would strongly recommend a more architectural approach to making sure that all data is easily accessible.
16 days ago
cbel12
Heather Joseph stated that this is the best way to leverage our investment in basic scientific research "to its fullest advantage." Part of that "fullest advantage" is the benefit it brings to other countries as well as to the U.S. As a former Foreign Service officer, I see this as an inexpensive and eminently useful way to expand our foreign aid in a completely egalitarian fashion.
16 days ago
PatrickJ
Access to the best and most up-to-date research is a key to developing a robust 21st Century economy. The American People through the government provide the "seed money" for a significant part of this research. The People deserve prompt and easy access to this important information.
16 days ago
dcarlson
A terrific position. The analogy to the NIH policy is good and relevant but the NIH policy provicdes an embargo period of 12 months, significantly longer than other similar policies by other govt. agencies (non-US) and even many publishers. I would urge for an embargo period of no more than 6 months.
16 days ago
Mike80
University researchers write the articles for free, they serve as reviewers for free and are paid very little or nothing to serve as editors. Yet publishers charge universities unconscionable amounts for access to the research they produce. The internet makes this outdated and unfair system obsolete. The US should demand that the research it funds be accessible to all.
16 days ago
Heatherjoseph
This proposal is the best way to ensure that the collective, multi-billion dollar investment that U.S. taxpayers make in basic scientific is leveraged to its fullest advantage. Accelerating advances in health care, sustainable energy and understanding climate change would be fueled by taking this simple step.
17 days ago
harnad
I support the recommendation and suggest extending the requirement to all peer-reviewed journal articles by researchers at publicly funded universities and research institutions, in all scientific and scholarly fields, whether or not the research itself is funded. This will encourage all universities and research institutions wordwide to adopt open access mandates for all their research output.
17 days ago
kirsop
Perhaps it would be acceptable to add the 27,427 votes cast for the similar proposal made to the EU in January 2006? This petition also included votes from 1343 institutes. At least the CTO should be made aware of this significant support from the research communities around the world.
about 1 month ago
nmh
This seems to follow the same general trend as other suggestions:
-open gov't data
-100% free sw
-open standard/device/os
-open election code
Maybe they could all be counted as a single "open gov't policy" suggestion.
about 1 month ago
Subbiah Arunachalam
A great idea. Especially beneficial to researchers in the developing countries. A sure way to keep USA the top ranked science nation. The open access movement is gaining momentum and the Obama administration can give it a big boost by mandating open access for all publicly funded research.
about 1 month ago