Want Better Access to Medical Research?

Pending legislation would make taxpayer-funded research freely available to the public:

"The bipartisan Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006, introduced on May 2, 2006 by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT), would require that US Government agencies with annual extramural research expenditures of over $100 million make manuscripts of journal articles stemming from research funded by that agency publicly available via the Internet. The manuscripts will be maintained and preserved in a digital archive maintained by that agency or in another suitable repository that permits free public access, interoperability, and long-term preservation. Each manuscript will be freely available to users without charge within six months after it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal."

The bill is expected to increase access to non-classified research from the following agencies:

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Department of Education

Department of Energy

Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Homeland Security

Department of Transportation

Environmental Protection Agency

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Science Foundation

Frequently Asked Questions (about the bill) - Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC)

The Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 - Information Today, Inc.

Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 - The Alliance for Taxpayer Access

Cornyn Bill Would Improve Taxpayer Access to Federally Funded Research - website of US Senator John Cornyn, a sponsor of the bill

NIH Public Access - National Institutes of Health, which previously instituted a voluntary policy for access to federally-funded research

Bill Seeks Access to Tax-Funded Research

Technorati Tags: Cornyn; legislation; open access; research; scholarly communication
MeSH Tags: Access to Information/legislation and jurisprudence; Information Dissemination; Publishing; Research Support