Policy and Advocacy
Government Initiatives
National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy
To advance science and improve human health, NIH makes the peer-reviewed articles it funds publicly available on PubMed Central. The NIH public access policy requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to PubMed Central immediately upon acceptance for publication. The policy implements Division F Section 217 of PL 111-8 (Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009).
Executive Directive on Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research
The White House issued a directive on February 14, 2013, requiring U.S. Government agencies with annual extramural research and development expenditures over $100 million make electronic manuscripts of peer-reviewed journal articles that stem from their research freely available on the Internet.
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014
The act codifies a section of the 2013 White House Directive on Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research (see above) into law for the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and the Department of Education, among other smaller agencies.
Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act of 2013[In Committee]
FASTR’s stated purpose is “to provide for Federal agencies to develop public access policies relating to research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds administered by that agency.” If enacted, it would require federal agencies with annual extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with online, long-term access to research manuscripts which they fund no later than six months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Nonprofit and Educational Organizations
- Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
SPARC is an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication. - Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. - Harvard Open Access Project
HOAP launched in 2011 to foster OA within Harvard, foster OA beyond Harvard, undertake research and policy analysis on OA, and provide OA to timely and accurate information about OA itself. HOAP is available to consult with universities, funding agencies, and other institutions developing their own OA policies. - Open Archives Initiative
The Open Archives Initiative develops and promotes interoperability standards that aim to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content. Over time, the work of OAI has expanded to promote broad access to digital resources for eScholarship, eLearning, and eScience. - The Right to Research Coalition
The Right to Research Coalition was founded by students in the summer of 2009 to promote an open scholarly publishing system based on the belief that no student should be denied access to the articles they need because their institution cannot afford the often high cost of access.
Publishing
- Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association
OASPA seeks to represent the interests of Open Access (OA) journal and book publishers globally in all scientific, technical and scholarly disciplines. This mission will be carried out through exchanging information, setting standards, advancing models, advocacy, education, and the promotion of innovation. - Open Library of Humanities
The Open Library of Humanities aims to provide a platform for Open Access publishing that is:- Reputable and respected through rigorous peer review
- Sustainable
- Digitally preserved and safely archived in perpetuity
- Non-profit
- Open in both monetary and permission terms
- Non-discriminatory to authors (collectively funded through a Library Partnership Subsidies model)
- Technically innovative in response to the needs of scholars and librarians
- A solution to the serials crisis
- PLOS (Public Library of Science)
PLOS (Public Library of Science) is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization founded to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. PLOS’s core objectives are to:- Provide ways to overcome unnecessary barriers to immediate availability, access and use of research
- Pursue a publishing strategy that optimizes the quality and integrity of the publication process
- Develop innovative approaches to the assessment, organization and reuse of ideas and data
