profession
Public to get free access to federally funded research
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 18, 2013
The Obama administration says it plans to make federally funded research available to the public for free within a year. The move comes after an online petition was circulated on the White House website asking for free access to scientific journal articles resulting from research paid for by taxpayers. The petition got more than 65,000 signatures.
In a Feb. 22 statement, John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said he issued a memorandum to federal agencies requiring them to make results of federally funded research publicly available within 12 months after the original publication. The memorandum applies to agencies with more than $100 million in research and development expenditures.
In addition to addressing public access, the memorandum requires that agencies start to address the need to improve the management and sharing of scientific data produced with federal funding. Strengthening these policies will promote entrepreneurship and job growth while driving scientific progress, Holdren said.
