December 11, 2009 - On December 9, 2009, the White House announced the launch of a “Public Access Policy Forum” sponsored by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on access to federally-funded research results. The forum, launched as part of the White House Open Government Initiative, seeks to explore whether the new NIH policy requiring public access to the results of federally-funded research within 12 months of publication “should be extended to other science agencies and, if so, how it should be implemented.”
OSTP will host an online discussion December 10, 2009 through January 7, 2010 on three sequential areas of interest (as outlined in the
WH announcement):
- Implementation (Dec. 10 to 20): Which Federal agencies are good candidates to adopt Public Access policies? What variables (field of science, proportion of research funded by public or private entities, etc.) should affect how public access is implemented at various agencies, including the maximum length of time between publication and public release?
- Features and Technology (Dec. 21 to Dec 31): In what format should the data be submitted in order to make it easy to search and retrieve information, and to make it easy for others to link to it? Are there existing digital standards for archiving and interoperability to maximize public benefit? How are these anticipated to change?
- Management (Jan. 1 to Jan. 7): What are the best mechanisms to ensure compliance? What would be the best metrics of success? What are the best examples of usability in the private sector (both domestic and international)? Should those who access papers be given the opportunity to comment or provide feedback?
The first of these discussions opened yesterday with a
blog posting from Diane DiEuliis, Assistant Director of Life Sciences, and Robynn Sturm, Assistant Deputy Chief Technology Officer, in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. While the OSTP forum focuses on access to scientific literature, DiEuliis and Sturm raise some general questions that could have implications for agencies that support research outside of the sciences (e.g., National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Department of Education), especially in the context of the White House’s broader
Open Government Initiative.
From the blog:
"Who should enact public access policies? Many agencies fund research the results of which ultimately appear in scholarly journals. ... Which other Federal agencies may be good candidates to adopt public access policies? Are there objective reasons why some should promulgate public access policies and others not? What criteria are appropriate to consider when an agency weighs the potential costs (including administrative and management burdens) and benefits of increased public access?"
Participation in the discussion is open to the public. For further background, see the
Federal Register Notice filed by OSTP on December 8, “Public Access Policies for Science and Technology Funding Agencies Across the Federal Government”. (The notice is also available via
GPO Access, DOCID:fr09de09-111, pp 65173- 65175).
Related content:
Open Government,
Scholarly Communication,
White House
