Take Action: Oppose H.R. 3699, a new bill to block public access to publicly funded research

[Jennifer McLennan]

A new bill, The Research Works Act (H.R.3699), designed to roll back the NIH Public Access Policy and block the development of similar policies at other federal agencies has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. Co-sponsored by Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), it was introduced on December 16, 2011, and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Essentially, the bill seeks to prohibit federal agencies from conditioning their grants to require that articles reporting on publicly funded research be made accessible to the public online.

The bill text is short and to the point. The main point reads:

"No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or otherwise engage in any policy, program, or other activity that -- (1) causes, permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any private-sector research work without the prior consent of the publisher of such work; or (2) requires that any actual or prospective author, or the employer of such an actual or prospective author, assent to network dissemination of a private-sector research work."

Supporters of public access to the results of publicly funded research need to speak out against this proposed legislation. Contact Congress to express your opposition today, or as soon as possible.

For contact information and details on how to act, see the Alliance for Taxpayer Access Action Center at: http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/action.

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Jennifer McLennan
Director of Programs & Operations
SPARC
jenn...@arl.org
(202) 296-2296 x121
Fax: (202) 872-0884
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermclennan
http://www.arl.org/sparc
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The SPARC Open Access Meeting
March 11 - 13, 2012
Kansas City
http://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/oa12
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Open Access Week 2012
October 22 - 28
http://www.openaccessweek.org

[Stevan Harnad]

See: Research Works Act H.R.3699: The Private Publishing Tail Trying
To Wag The Public Research Dog, Yet Again
http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/867-guid.html

Excerpt:

The US Research Works Act (H.R.3699): "No Federal agency may adopt,

implement, maintain, continue, or otherwise engage in any policy,
program, or other activity that -- (1) causes, permits, or authorizes
network dissemination of any private-sector research work without the
prior consent of the publisher of such work; or (2) requires that any
actual or prospective author, or the employer of such an actual or
prospective author, assent to network dissemination of a private-
sector research work."

Translation and Comments:

"If public tax money is used to fund research, that research becomes
"private research" once a publisher "adds value" to it by managing the
peer review."

[Comment: Researchers do the peer review for the publisher for free,
just as researchers give their papers to the publisher for free,
together with the exclusive right to sell subscriptions to it, on-
paper and online, seeking and receiving no fee or royalty in return].

"Since that public research has thereby been transformed into "private
research," and the publisher's property, the government that funded it
with public tax money should not be allowed to require the funded
author to make it accessible for free online for those users who
cannot afford subscription access."

[Comment: The author's sole purpose in doing and publishing the
research, without seeking any fee or royalties, is so that all
potential users can access, use and build upon it, in further research
and applications, to the benefit of the public that funded it; this is
also the sole purpose for which public tax money is used to fund
research.]"

H.R. 3699 misunderstands the secondary, service role that peer-
reviewed research journal publishing plays in US research and
development and its (public) funding.

On Jan 6, 11:43 am, Jennifer McLennan <jenni...@arl.org> wrote:
> A new bill, The Research Works Act (H.R.3699), designed to roll back the NIH Public Access Policy and block the development of similar policies at other federal agencies has been introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. Co-sponsored by Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), it was introduced on December 16, 2011, and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
>
> Essentially, the bill seeks to prohibit federal agencies from conditioning their grants to require that articles reporting on publicly funded research be made accessible to the public online.
>
> The bill text is short and to the point. The main point reads:
>
> "No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or otherwise engage in any policy, program, or other activity that -- (1) causes, permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any private-sector research work without the prior consent of the publisher of such work; or (2) requires that any actual or prospective author, or the employer of such an actual or prospective author, assent to network dissemination of a private-sector research work."
>
> Supporters of public access to the results of publicly funded research need to speak out against this proposed legislation. Contact Congress to express your opposition today, or as soon as possible.
>
> For contact information and details on how to act, see the Alliance for Taxpayer Access Action Center at:http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/action.
>
> -------------------------------------
> Jennifer McLennan
> Director of Programs & Operations
> SPARC

> jenni...@arl.org
> (202) 296-2296 x121
> Fax: (202) 872-0884http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermclennanhttp://www.arl.org/sparc

> --------------------------------------
> The SPARC Open Access Meeting
> March 11 - 13, 2012

> Kansas Cityhttp://www.arl.org/sparc/meetings/oa12