The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing on the issue of Public Access to Federally Funded Research on Thursday, July 29 at 2pm EST in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2154.
The hearing is being convened by the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and
National Archives (Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO), and is intended to provide an opportunity for members of Congress
to hear the perspective of a broad range of stakeholders on the potential impact of opening up access to the
results of federally funded research.
NYSHEI stands with SPARC and our fellow coalition members in the Open Access Working Group and Alliance for Taxpayer Access. Together we have been active in requesting that such a hearing take place. This is a wonderful opportunity for Congress to become more deeply educated on the nuances of public access, and also to position FRPAA to receive heightened attention and consideration for further movement.
The Subcommittee’s interest stems from the growing number of visible expressions of interest in the issue of public access that have surfaced in recent months, in both the Legislative and Executive branches of government. Notably, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this year hosted a Public Access Policy Forum on mechanisms that would leverage federal investments in scientific research and increase access to information.
Additionally, H.R. 5037, the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA), which was introduced into the House on April 15 by Rep. Mike Doyle (R-PA) and is supported by a growing bi-partisan host of cosponsors, was referred to the Committee. The bill, and its identical Senate counterpart (introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX)), proposes to require those eleven federal agencies with extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to implement policies that deliver timely, free, online public access to the published results of the research they fund.
According to the notice:
“The hearing will examine the state of public access to federally-funded research in science, technology, and medicine. The hearing will assess and delineate the complex issues surrounding public access policies. The hearing will afford an opportunity for representatives from the areas of publishing, science and research, education and patient care to provide perspective on challenges, potential impact and opportunities regarding increased access.”
This open, public hearing will be held Thursday, July 29, at 2:00 PM in Rayburn House Office Building, room 2154.
“We are pleased that the Committee is creating this opportunity to shine a light on the issue of public access and examine the opportunities and implications it presents in an open, public forum,” said Heather Joseph, spokesperson for the Alliance for Taxpayer Access and Executive Director of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). “This is an issue of deep importance to a wide range of stakeholders – from scientists to students, entrepreneurs to educators, publishers and the public. We welcome this chance for a diverse array of viewpoints on the issue to be heard.”
The growing interest in exploring effective public access policies in the U.S. reflects a larger worldwide trend. Around the globe, national and non-profit funding agencies are recognizing the opportunity to increase the return on their research grants by requiring that findings be made freely accessible on the Internet.
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