[Ip-health] US Government Launch Public Forum to Discuss Options for Improving Public Access to Results of Federally Funded Research

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

OSTP (Office of Science and TEchnology Policy) to Launch Public Forum
to Discuss Options for Improving Public Access to Results of Federally
Funded Research

Source: http://blog.ostp.gov/2009/12/09/ostp-to-launch-public-forum-on-how-=
best-to-make-federally-funded-research-available-for-free/

On Thursday, Dec. 10, OSTP will launch a public consultation on Public
Access Policy. 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 =93Public Access Policy Forum=94 to invite public
participation in thinking through what the Federal government=92s policy
should be with regard to public access to published federally-funded
research results. To that end, OSTP will conduct an interactive,
online discussion beginning Thursday, December 10. We will focus on
three major areas of interest:

=09=95 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?
=09=95 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.
=09=95 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?
Each of these topics will form the basis of a blog posting that will
appear at www.whitehouse.gov/open and will be open for comment on the
OSTP blog.

We want your input!


For full details, see the Federal Register notice: http://www.ostp.gov/gall=
eries/default-file/RFI%20Final%20for%20FR.pdf