WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: White House Federally Funded Research Guidance Hailed as a Win for Innovation and Equity
Posted: August 29, 2022; Updated: September 30, 2022
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) landmark policy guidance for public access to federally funded research is winning enthusiastic praise from members of Congress, federal and international health and science leaders, private sector leaders, open science advocates, academic associations, scientific journals, and researchers. The new policy guidance will make the results of taxpayer-supported research immediately available to the American public, at no cost. Citing its emphasis on equity and ensuring that people from underserved backgrounds can access taxpayer-funded research and participate in accelerating solutions, praise for President Biden’s new policy includes hailing it as “transformational” and “an enormous leap forward” for democratizing knowledge and lowering barriers to scientific results.
President Biden has called for increased public access for years, citing his longtime priority to fight cancer, and specifically articulating in 2016: “The taxpayers fund $5 billion a year in cancer research every year, but once it’s published, nearly all of that taxpayer-funded research sits behind walls. Tell me how this is moving the process along more rapidly.”
The new guidance has benefited from extensive public engagement with stakeholders across the research publication ecosystem. These consultations have included large and small science and academic publishers, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, libraries and universities, scholarly societies, and members of the general public. Agencies will work with OSTP to fully implement public access policies by the end of 2025.
See below for what they’re saying:
U.S. Senator from Oregon Ron Wyden, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance: “The White House announcement today is an astronomical win for innovation and scientific progress. Unlocking federally funded research from expensive, exclusive journals will give far more scientists and researchers access to the latest discoveries and catalyze scientific development,” Wyden said. “Our country needs to harness every bit of research at our disposal to meet the challenges on everything from the Cancer Moonshot to addressing climate change. President Biden and Director Nelson deserve credit for making sure the public can reap the full benefits of taxpayer-funded research.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
U.S. Representative from California Zoe Lofgren, Chair, Committee on House Administration: “I applaud this move by @POTUS. When this info is shared openly with the public, it’s a powerful building block for future discoveries. This move can help accelerate breakthroughs, encourage collaborative research, & boost our nation’s competitive advantage.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania Mike Doyle, Chair, House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications and Technology: “Great news from the White House: the public will finally get free access to federally-funded research without a long wait behind a private paywall. Americans paid for it; we should have access to it!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization: “Important step by @POTUS and towards more rapid access to research data. @WHO has been … an advocate for open access to research data, so that everyone, everywhere can benefit from science.” [Tweet, 8/27/2022]
Lawrence Tabak, Performing the Duties of the NIH Director:
“Over the coming months, NIH will work expeditiously to develop and share its plans for implementing the OSTP policy guidance … We are enthusiastic to move forward on these important efforts to make research results more accessible and look forward to working together to strengthen our shared responsibility in making federally funded research results accessible to the public.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Patti Brennan, Director, National Library of Medicine:
“NLM stands ready to support NIH’s implementation of updated policy guidance issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) through NLM’s PubMed Central (PMC) and other relevant data repositories … NLM supports public accountability and open science, and will work with NIH and other federal agency partners to support their revised public access plans.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Michael Chiang, Director, National Eye Institute:
“This is a major step by the White House (@WHOSTP) in democratizing knowledge dissemination and data access. At @NatEyeInstitute , we are excited about helping to build a future based on data sharing to promote better science.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
U.S. Department of Agriculture: “We applaud @WHOSTP’s release of new guidance on public research access. Rapid public access to federally-funded research & data can drive data-driven decisions & innovation that are critical in our fast-changing world.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
UK Research and Innovation: “We welcome this new policy guidance from @WHOSTP to make federally-funded research outputs immediately accessible which will improve opportunities for collaboration & innovation. #OpenAccess” [Tweet, 8/26/2022]
Heather Joseph, Executive Director, Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition: “This is an enormous leap forward. For the first time, everyone will have free and immediate access to the results of all federally funded research to speed solutions for global challenges—from cancer to climate change. We are deeply grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for their steadfast leadership on this issue. This crucial policy guidance lays the foundation for a more open and equitable system of research communication in the U.S. and globally.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
cOAlition-S: “This new US policy is a game changer for scholarly publishing. In addition to its emphasis on immediate open access, we welcome the focus on reducing inequities in publishing, especially among individuals from underserved backgrounds and those who are early in their careers. Initiatives such as Rights Retention – supported by both funder and institutional policies – can provide a means for effectively delivering open access. Such a strong statement, from a country that is leading in many research areas, will greatly advance efforts for global open access.” [Statement, 8/26/2022]
Greg Tananbaum, Director, Open Research Funders Group:
“We thank the White House for its commitment to open science and its decisive action to remove restrictions on access to, and reuse of, government funded research results. The results of this revised guidance will have tangible benefits for the American public. We commend the OSTP for its leadership, which will accelerate progress toward curing disease and tackling climate change, facilitate more informed decision making between patients and doctors, and help to create a more durable bond between science and society.” [Letter, 8/25/2022]
Brian Nosek, Director, Center for Open Science:
“It is a transformational document. This is going to change how it is that science is communicated, and what the public and particularly other researchers have access to in the work that was done.” [STAT News, 8/25/2022]
Association of Research Libraries:
“This update is a historic moment for scientific communications … By signaling the importance of agency policies that work equitably for people from underserved backgrounds and for early-career researchers, as well as ensuring outputs are accessible to people with disabilities, this new policy guidance bolsters the administration’s focus on advancing equity, and on increasing public participation in the federal scientific enterprise.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Association of American Universities:
“The announcement today by OSTP represents an important step forward in further advancing public access.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Sudip Parikh, Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science:
“AAAS, the nonprofit publisher of the Science family of journals, supports the objectives of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and has a long history of advocating for equitable access to scientific research and data while ensuring a more inclusive publishing ecosystem for scientists.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Michael Eisen, Editor-in-Chief, eLife: “The actions you took yesterday are the most consequential steps taken by any administration, branch of government or other public or private entity to ensure that Americans realize the full benefits of our investment in scientific and medical research.” [Letter, 8/26/2022]
Alison Mudditt, Chief Executive Officer, Public Library of Science:
“An amazing day for #OAintheUSA. Many thanks to @WHOSTP & @WhiteHouse for recognizing the importance of OA to research both to accelerate knowledge & to promote equity. And an enormous debt of gratitude to the many people who’ve worked so hard for this.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Anne Wojcicki, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, 23andMe:
“Nice job OSTP to finally make federally funded research free for people to read. About time!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Cable Green, Director, Open Knowledge at Creative Commons:
“The public deserves to have uninhibited, equitable and immediate access to use and re-use the research, data, educational resources, software and other content it funds. Our collective ability to create and share digital public goods to create a better world requires it. This new OSTP guidance realizes essential elements of that vision.” [Blog post, 8/26/2022]
Dave A. Chokshi, former New York City Health Commissioner:
“Publicly-funded research should be accessible to the public. We have seen just how important this is during #COVID19. Really appreciate this #OpenAccess policy breakthrough from the @WhiteHouse.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Leslie Vosshall, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute:
“This is likely to change how science is communicated forever. It is important. It is transformative. We have waited for this day for decades.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Elliott D. Hammer, Professor of Psychology, Xavier University of Louisiana:
“This is an incredibly good thing to have happened … Those of us at less wealthy schools are grateful for the access!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
James Temple, Senior Editor, MIT Technology Review:
“This is fantastic news speaking as a journalist — and as a human being. Everyone should be able to access federally-funded science, and now it seems they can” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Ashley Farley, Program Officer for Knowledge & Research Services, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
“We thank the White House for its commitment to increasing equitable access to federally funded research publications and data. We are confident this will foster innovation, strengthen scientific integrity, and bring more diverse voices into the research conversation. The Gates foundation stands ready to assist the Administration as you move to operationalize this guidance.” [Letter, 8/29/2022]
University of California Libraries:
“A year is a long time in the world of scientific research. The omicron variant of COVID-19 was identified in November 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope launched in December 2021 and sent back its first images just last month. Access to the latest science is the best way to solve today’s problems and accelerate future discoveries — and that is why the White House guidance issued this week to make federally funded research freely and immediately available is so important.” [Statement, 8/30/2022]
Kamila Markram, CEO and co-founder of Frontiers, open access research publisher:
“Enormous progress has been made in our collective efforts to extend the benefits of publicly funded research to all of society, and this announcement ought to be a tipping point. The Covid emergency taught us that open science drives innovation and saves lives. As we face down global, existential threats, not least climate change, open science without paywalls will accelerate collaboration and improve our chances of success. We stand ready to work with partners in the vanguard of this transition.” [Statement, 8/29/2022]
Johan Rooryck, Executive Director of cOAlition-S:
“Such a strong statement, from a country that is leading in many research areas, will greatly advance efforts for global open access“, noted Johan Rooryck. cOAlition S looks forward to working with OSTP and other research organisations worldwide to further align our policies towards delivering full and immediate open access to research results.” [Statement, 8/26/2022]
Daniel Takash, Regulatory Policy Fellow, The Niskanen Center:
“This history shows that there is bipartisan support for liberalizing access to information. Even though OSTP’s change doesn’t directly implicate copyright law, it’s a policy that dulls its sharper edges and fulfills the constitutional purpose of copyright to ‘promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts. Though seemingly unrelated, this policy is a complement to the Biden Administration’s move on higher education costs. It’s not enough to subsidize goods and services that Americans need when they are purchased in a market that is highly constrained. Higher education is a perfect case study. Journal subscriptions aren’t the priciest line-item in a university budget by a long shot, but it’s a major chunk of academic libraries’ budgets. This is low-hanging fruit that needs to be picked, and it’s great that OSTP took enough interest in the issue to do something.” [Statement, 8/30/2022]
Prachee Avasthi, President ASAPBio and Co-Founder of Arcadia Science:
“I am transitioning from my academic role as a faculty member at Dartmouth, an institution that pays hefty subscription fees for broad journal access for its employees, to a role in the private sector where we have no access to many of the outputs of scholarly research. This experience has allowed me to see first-hand in small part what the rest of the world faces when attempting to build upon the current state of knowledge. When we don’t make research immediately open, we guarantee that we are not maximizing the scientific return on taxpayer investment. I applaud the efforts of the entire WHOSTP as well as the scientists, open science champions, and public servants everywhere that have fought for public access to scientific research to proclaim unambiguously that American science is for everyone.” [Letter, 8/26/2022]
Gary McDowell, CEO of Lightoller LLC:
“I am a small business owner and U.S. taxpayer who uses federally-funded research in my work. I constantly struggle to access the cutting-edge data and knowledge that I need – and that my tax dollars fund – due to the current barriers designed to keep me from them. However, I am writing not only to thank you for myself. In my work, I constantly see the barriers experienced by other groups, who will be so positively affected by this move: Patient advocates, trying to access the latest work to understand the current state of knowledge on their disease, are kept from understanding new directions and findings for an agonizing 12 months; Educators, who work to develop science literacy and a sense of identity with the science community in K-12 students, are frustrated by the gatekeeping to prevent this population from accessing current work. There are even thousands of students at U.S. institutions of higher education studying these subjects who cannot access research for their studies because their institutions cannot afford to pay the subscription costs levied by scientific societies and publishing companies.” [Letter, 8/30/2022]
Thad Potter and Sonia Kaufman, National Association of Graduate-Professional Students:
“As students, educators, and researchers, we need open access to articles reporting on research funded by US federal agencies. Until now, this research, paid for by taxpayers like us, was rarely accessible to the public due to the exorbitant cost of journal subscriptions. Yesterday’s action will ensure that students, educators, and researchers have access to the information they need to advance critical research to mitigate climate change, solve complex medical puzzles, which unlock the cure to diseases, send our rockets to the moon, and far more.” [Letter, 8/30/2022]
American Geophysical Union:
“AGU applauds the announcement by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to make federally funded research immediately open access at no cost. As a publisher of 23 journals for the global Earth and space science community, AGU is fully compliant with this new guidance, as well as the requirements for open access across Europe.” [Statement, 8/30/2022]
Dr. Alicia M. Salaz, Vice Provost and University Librarian, University of Oregon Libraries:
“At the University of Oregon, a public R1, AAU institution, our scholars rely on access to the latest published and publicly funded research and data in critical areas such as climate, human performance, and children’s health, to produce 2,000 publications and petabytes of research data every year. Our Library spends millions of dollars of Oregon state tax dollars and student tuition dollars every year to buy back access to the research that our own faculty produce with federal dollars, because until now, we have had little choice. With this action, OSTP advances a fairer, more equitable system of research that will benefit UO, our faculty, students, Oregon taxpayers, our country, and the world. Instead of buying back access to research that was already produced with public money, we will be able to invest more of our limited resources in ways that directly accelerate the research enterprise at the UO. The result will be faster progress toward solving behavioral health crises, mitigating climate and wildfire risks, and improving the human condition.” [Statement, 8/30/2022]
Seth Bannon, Venture Capitalist and Founder of fiftyyears:
“HUGE NEWS! The public have been paying for breakthrough research, which is then locked behind paywalls controlled by for-profit corporations. No more! Taxpayer-supported research will be immediately available to all at no cost. Great for science!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Lenny Teytelman, CEO of protocols.io:
“As a company, we warmly welcome this change. Because we work in supporting researchers and helping them share their research in a more reproducible manner, it is exasperating to hit subscription paywalls when we are trying to access articles of the scientists we are working with. Moreover, for the methods shared on protocols.io, readers need to know which published papers they are used in, but it is impossible for us to provide that information for articles that are not open. On a personal level as a citizen, I am deeply grateful for your action, particularly on the heels of the Coronavirus pandemic. For many years, I’ve witnessed temporary immediate open access sharing during public health emergencies (Ebola in 2015, Zika in 2016, opioids in 2019, Covid in 2020). Each time, it made me wonder, `Are HIV, cancer, malaria not emergencies? What area of science does not need to move as fast as possible? Which patients have the luxury of time? Is climate research non-urgent?’” [Letter, 8/30/2022]
Steve Crawford, NASA Senior Program Executive for Scientific Data and Computing:
“Today, @WHOSTP released a policy about how data should become available at the time of their publication and this is a fantastic example of how NASA missions, researchers, publishers, and data repositories can make this happen to increase equity of access to our discoveries!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman, Senate Appropriations Committee:
“The Biden Administration recently issued guidance requiring that all federally funded research be available to the American public at no cost – which I supported and would support in any administration. We spend about $80 billion in research that was often held by commercial publishers and scientific societies and placed behind paywalls and telling the American taxpayers who paid for the thing in the first place ‘if you want it, you gotta pay twice.’” [Statement, 9/07/2022]
Jacob Carter, Research Director, Union of Concerned Scientists:
Even within the United States, I’m not able to access some of my own research publications without paying for them. For example, a publication from my own PhD research costs me $40 to access. That’s for just one research article—one, I might add, that I did the all the hard work on! Similarly, it doesn’t make sense that taxpayers in the United States who have, after all, funded federal research, can’t freely access it.” [Statement, 8/31/2022]
The American Association for the Advancement of Science:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, the publisher of Science and the Science family of journals) strongly supports this guidance. As written, several paths to public access remain possible. It will matter greatly to the scientific enterprise which become predominant.[Editorial, 9/9/2022]
Harold Varmus, Nobel Laureate and former Director of the National Institutes of Health:
But the article, the memo, does have many other things in it that are particularly appealing. It requires that a detailed plan be made, not just for displaying published articles but also for making the materials useful in machine-based learning exercises so that the format is compatible with extracting as much information as possible. And it also addresses some social issues that have become quite important during the pandemic. That is, the credibility of science, the reliability of science, the openness of science, science as a positive public good. And I think those are very important issues in this time. [Interview, 9/02/2022]
Public Library of Science:
The vision expressed in the memo represents a tremendous step toward the future of scientific research communication that PLOS has been working toward since our founding in 2001. It truly is a watershed moment for the US research community and everyone who has a stake in scientific communications. [Statement, 9/2/2022]
Peter Gluckman, President, International Science Council:
We strongly support the updated policy guidance and applaud you and your team’s bold action to make taxpayer-supported research immediately available to the public at no cost. This new policy guidance from the United States is already sparking conversations among government research funding agencies in other countries and seems likely to catalyse change elsewhere in the world. As your announcement makes clear, subscription paywalls and embargo processes currently in place within the scholarly publishing system serve to limit access to scientific findings for authors and readers, especially those in limited resource contexts. These barriers ultimately delay the uptake of findings that are crucial for scientific progress and for addressing challenges facing societies, from pandemics to climate change. We welcome the focus in your guidance on improving equity, which must be central to discussions on how the scholarly publishing system is structured. [Letter, 9/08/2022]
Hayden Schill, President, University of California, Graduate and Professional Council:
The University of California Graduate & Professional Council represents the ~60,000 graduate and professional students at the UC. This updated policy guidance will immediately and positively affect the current and future UC graduate student community in several ways, including increasing transparency in taxpayer-funded research and promoting equity in the publishing of and access to federally funded research. The result will be faster progress toward curing diseases, preventing pandemics, mitigating climate change, and addressing inequities in research publication and access.[Letter, 8/31/2022]
Erin O’Shea, President, Howard Hughes Medical Institute:
HHMI has long been committed to continuously improving the conduct, communication, and evaluation of scientific research. We view open science as a key enabler of this mission – accelerating discovery, building trust and transparency, and expanding accessibility. HHMI is pleased to provide this letter of support for the recently issued memorandum on Increasing Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research Results. [Letter, 9/9/2022]
Bella Kumar, Data For Progress:
Voters also support the White House’s new guidance to federal agencies instructing that they must make research papers that describe taxpayer-funded work freely available to the public as soon as they are published by a +78-point margin. This includes Democrats by a +84-point margin, Independents by a +77-point margin, and Republicans by a +75-point margin. The coronavirus crisis has taught us that research articles being locked behind paywalls and data stuck in silos is not sustainable. Congress must follow this guidance and vote to end delays and accessibility issues by making all taxpayer-funded research articles immediately open to all. American lives depend on it. [Statement, 9/8/2022]
Abbey Elder and Megan O’Donnell, Iowa State University Library:
As a land-grant institution, Iowa State University is committed to disseminating information widely for the good of people everywhere. This change in policy compliments our mission and is substantiated by the library’s DataShare, Digital Press and institutional Digital Repository. The University Library is not only excited to continue to support our researchers as they openly share and provide increased access to their work, but to explore ways we can build upon this foundation in the future. [Statement, 9/7/2022]
Data Curation Network:
The Data Curation Network (DCN) whole-heartedly applauds the recent Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memo, Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research, which recommends federal funding agencies to develop policies for grant recipients that eliminates the 12-month embargo on publications and strengthens the requirements for research data management and sharing. This updated policy will greatly benefit the US public by accelerating new discoveries and increasing the impact of research on society. It will also bring the US in line with other regions such as Europe and Latin America, who have already adopted zero embargo policies. As an organization whose membership includes university-based repositories (institutional repositories), the DCN welcomes this new guidance. It aligns with our mission to advance open research by making data more ethical, reusable, and understandable through widespread adoption of good practices in repository management and curation. This includes the use of persistent identifiers (PIDs) (such as digital object identifiers) for research outputs, and long term preservation of datasets, publications and pre-prints, and other scholarly outputs.[Statement, 9/06/2022]
Mark Newton, University Librarian ad interim, Boston University:
“I think this is a really positive development. It’s great to see equitable access being foregrounded in this way and OSTP taking really concrete steps to build upon the 2013 memo, which had a more limited application—this covers much more ground.” [Statement,9/07/2022]
Taylor & Francis:
We share OSTP’s belief that open research is the best way to amplify and communicate research that delivers change and improves lives. As such, we stand as a partner to OSTP and associated agencies to sustainably implement their goals by December 31, 2025. We will do this in a way which is scalable, achieves the outlined aims, and ensures the ongoing diversity of the research and publishing environment. To achieve an open future, publishers, research institutions, scholarly societies, funders, and policymakers must work together. We have a great opportunity to collectively ensure that every researcher has relevant and realistic publishing options that successfully deliver on OSTP’s guidance. A joined-up approach is needed to fully realize the significant benefits to society that this has the potential to achieve. Ensuring adequate funding and allowing for a variety of approaches to allow for innovative models and to accommodate both fast-moving disciplines and those that are not will be essential. [Statement, 9/14/2022]
Kim Tairi, Chair of Open Access Australasia (OAA) Executive Committee:
“As Chair of OAA and a member of both CAUL (Council of Australian University Librarians) and CONZUL (Council of NZ University Librarians) I am hopeful that the US Public Access policy will spur on our own governments, funders, research institutes and universities to more fully embrace a future that is open. It would be terrific if our governments followed suit with policies and processes that make publicly funded research immediately open. It feels like the hard work open access advocates are doing globally is starting to make the change we have been waiting for, and open science needs. Our experience with the high quality open access publications in Aotearoa New Zealand is that we can use them to share diverse voices and indigenous research that are often marginalised in traditional publishing. This guidance gives me hope and I am grateful to all of you who are contributing to this work and playing a part.” [Statement, 8/31/2022]
Lisa Peet, The Library Journal:
In addition to opening information to meet immediate needs—a critical consideration during health crises, among other issues—new policy guidelines seek to address longstanding discriminatory structural inequities. Race, age, disability status, geography, economic background, and gender have historically posed barriers to accessing scientific research. Often colleges and institutions that serve marginalized populations lack the funding to pay for the results of the very work their stakeholders help subsidize as taxpayers. [Editorial, 9/26/2022]
Willow Clark, Office of the Vice President for Research, University of South Carolina:
Greatly inspired by lessons learned during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the new guidelines seek to improve collaboration among researchers across the country and the world, encouraging breakthroughs in research and improving public welfare. These guidelines will also make it so taxpayers see the immediate results of their investments in research and scientific discovery. [Statement, 9/20/2022]
The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology:
The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology supports the White House Office of Science and Technology’s recommendation, issued in a memorandum on Aug. 25, that federal agencies, as soon as possible, make publications resulting from public funding accessible to all without embargo. The ASBMB publishes three fully open-access, peer-reviewed journals: the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the Journal of Lipid Research, and Molecular & Cellular Proteomics. “While making research publicly accessible is essential for scientific advancement and the right thing to do, it requires a complete overhaul of publishing systems, processes and business models,” Stephen Miller, ASBMB’s executive director, said. “ASBMB journals have been ‘gold’ open access for almost two years now. It has been a costly and complicated transition, but we are committed to always innovating to meet the needs of the community.” [Statement, 9/2/2022]
The University Libraries, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University:
The University Libraries is well positioned to fully support Virginia Tech researchers and scholars as federal agency open publishing policies are developed and implemented over the next two years.
“We believe that everyone should have access to knowledge. This is a cornerstone to accelerating future discovery that could impact our society and the world,” said Walters. “The University Libraries will closely watch how these agency policies develop and will continue to provide our expertise and services to help researchers be fully compliant with current and future requirements.” [Statement, 9/20/2022]
Michael W. Carroll, Professor of Law, American University:
“This new White House policy guidance will finally make the results of federally-funded research immediately available on the Internet. This is a major milestone for the open access movement. Since 2004, when the National Institutes of Health adopted a voluntary policy for posting research online, those of us in the open access movement have argued that immediate online availability of research will speed the progress of science and provide more equitable access to research. Progress toward this goal has been slow and incremental. Then, during the early phase of this pandemic, we saw in real time how important immediate open access is to enable rapid response to a fast-moving public health crisis, as science publishers dropped their paywalls for articles reporting on the new virus. I am deeply grateful to the leadership in the Office of Science and Technology Policy for taking this important step to ensure immediate open access to all federally-funded science research. It would not have happened without the focus and tenacity of leaders in the library community and other open access advocates who have stayed the course. There is still much to be done, but this new policy is a welcome, overdue, and irreversible step forward.” [Statement, 9/6/2022]
Sean Flynn, Director of Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, American University:
Making taxpayer funded research default to free-to-use promotes access and use of research by all, which in turn promotes authorship, expression and the progress of science. Human rights to impart and receive information and expression and benefit from science require strong justification to not require publicly funded research to be freely usable by all. Open access should be the default policy for all government funded research everywhere. [Statement, 9/6/2022]
Sharon Wood, Executive Vice President and Provost, University of Texas at Austin:
“The University of Texas at Austin, one of the world’s leading research institutions, received close to two-thirds (62.8%) of its 2020 research expenditures from federal agencies. Ranked among the top schools in the world for arts, humanities, and scientific research, UT Austin has launched a bold new vision to become the world’s highest-impact public university by strengthening what sets our university apart. We create impact through our research, scholarship, and creative endeavors and we aspire to be known for work that changes the way the world thinks and lives. The recent announcement from the OSTP is bold and timely and will help guide our efforts to accomplish this vision.” [Letter, 9/6/2022]
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