Roundtable Press Release (Access to Federally Funded Research Results)

["Okerson, Ann" <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Joe Esposito sends this comment:  "This is likely to be of 
interest to members of this list, a report from the Association 
of American Universities on scholarly communications.  Here is 
the shortened link:  http://bit.ly/71v0X5 - That will take you to 
the home page.  You need to download the PDF, which doesn't seem 
to have its own URL.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS CONTACTS:
January 12, 2010

Barry Toiv
Association of American Universities
barry_toiv@aau.edu

Jason Bardi
American Institute of Physics
jbardi@aip.org

EXPERT PANEL CALLS ON U.S. RESEARCH AGENCIES TO DEVELOP POLICIES 
FOR PROVIDING FREE PUBLIC ACCESS TO FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH 
RESULTS

Policies Should Protect Peer-Reviewed Publications While Ensuring 
Rapid Access

An expert panel of librarians, library scientists, publishers, 
and university academic leaders today called on federal agencies 
that fund research to develop and implement policies that ensure 
free public access to the results of the research they fund 'as 
soon as possible after those results have been published in a 
peer-reviewed journal.'

The Scholarly Publishing Roundtable was convened last summer by 
the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology, in 
collaboration with the White House Office of Science and 
Technology Policy (OSTP).  Policymakers asked the group to 
examine the current state of scholarly publishing and seek 
consensus recommendations for expanding public access to 
scholarly journal articles.

The various communities represented in the Roundtable have been 
working to develop recommendations that would improve public 
access without curtailing the ability of the scientific 
publishing industry to publish peer-reviewed scientific articles.

The Roundtable's recommendations, endorsed in full by the 
overwhelming majority of the panel (12 out of 14 members), 'seek 
to balance the need for and potential of increased access to 
scholarly articles with the need to preserve the essential 
functions of the scholarly publishing enterprise,' according to 
the report.

'I want to commend the members of the Roundtable for reaching 
broad agreement on some very difficult issues,' said John Vaughn, 
executive vice president of the Association of American 
Universities, who chaired the group. 'Our system of scientific 
publishing is an indispensible part of the scientific enterprise 
here and internationally. These recommendations ensure that we 
can maintain that system as it evolves and also ensure full and 
free public access to the results of research paid for by the 
American taxpayer.'

The Roundtable identified a set of principles viewed as essential 
to a robust scholarly publishing system, including the need to 
preserve peer review, the necessity of adaptable publishing 
business models, the benefits of broader public access, the 
importance of archiving, and the interoperability of online 
content.

In addition, the group affirmed the high value of the 'version of 
record' for published articles and of all stakeholders' 
contributions to sustaining the best possible system of scholarly 
publishing during a time of tremendous change and innovation.

To implement its core recommendation for public access, the 
Roundtable recommended the following:

*Agencies should work in full and open consultation with all 
stakeholders, as well as with OSTP, to develop their public 
access policies.

*Agencies should establish specific embargo periods between 
publication and public access.

*Policies should be guided by the need to foster 
interoperability.

*Every effort should be made to have the Version of Record as the 
version to which free access is provided.

*Government agencies should extend the reach of their public 
access policies through voluntary collaborations with 
non-governmental stakeholders.

*Policies should foster innovation in the research and 
educational use of scholarly publications.

*Government public access policies should address the need to 
resolve the challenges of long-term digital preservation.

*OSTP should establish a public access advisory committee to 
facilitate communication among government and nongovernment 
stakeholders.

In issuing its report, the Roundtable urged all interested 
parties to move forward, beyond 'the too-often acrimonious' past 
debate over access issues towards a collaborative framework 
wherein federal funding agencies can build 'an interdependent 
system of scholarly publishing that expands public access and 
enhances the broad, intelligent use of the results of federally 
funded research.'

The report, as well as a list of Roundtable members, member 
biographies, and the House Science and Technology Committee's 
charge to the group, can be found at

http://www.aau.edu/policy/scholarly_publishing_roundtable.aspx?id=6894

For more information, contact:

John Vaughn (Chair)
Executive Vice President
Association of American Universities
202-408-7500
john_vaughn@aau.edu

Paul N. Courant
University Librarian and Dean of Libraries
University of Michigan
(734) 764-9356
pnc@umich.edu

Fred Dylla
Executive Director and CEO
American Institute of Physics
(301) 209-3131
dylla@aip.org

James J. O'Donnell
Professor of Classics
Provost
Georgetown University
202-687-2015
provost@georgetown.edu

Ann Okerson
Associate University Librarian
Yale University
203-432-1764
ann.okerson@yale.edu

Crispin Taylor
Executive Director
American Society of Plant Biologists
301-296-0900
ctaylor@aspb.org


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