Scholarly Communication at Texas A&M

In 2008, the US National Institutes of Health established their Public Access Policy to ensure public access to the published results of NIH-funded research. The “NIH Mandate” requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central.

Now the Obama Administration is initiating a process to consider broadening public access to *all* federally funded research. The President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has just launched a “Public Forum on How Best to Make Federally Funded Research Results Available For Free”. According to the OSTP announcement, the aim of this interactive, online discussion forum is:

to invite public participation in thinking through what the Federal government’s policy should be with regard to public access to published federally-funded research results.

The managed online discussion will take place in three phases, organized by topic/issue.

1. The first phase (Dec. 10 to 20), is focused on “Implementation” and will consider such questions as “Which Federal agencies are good candidates to adopt Public Access policies?” “What is a reasonable time period to allow between publication of research results and its free online availability to the public?”
2. The second phase (Dec. 21 to Dec 31) will focus on “Features and Technology” will consider the mechanical aspects of making federal research data available (Librarians, data managers and other information professionals, take note!). Discussion is expected to center on such topics as which information formats will best facilitate search and retrieval by the public, and allow others to link to it? Are there existing digital standards for archiving and interoperability to maximize public benefit?
3. The third phase of the forum process (Jan. 1 to Jan. 7) will address “Management” will address such policy and social questions as: What are the best mechanisms to ensure compliance? What would be the best metrics of success? Should those who access papers be given the opportunity to comment or provide feedback?

Making all US publicly funded research freely accessible online has numerous benefits, not just for the higher education and research communities, but for society as a whole. Free public access to federally funded research ensures that all citizens, not just those who can afford to subscribe to the scientific and scholalry literature, will be able to learn from and apply the knowledge created with the support of public tax dollars. It also ensures that all scientists and scholars, regardless of institutional or national resources, will be able to read, evaluate, apply, adapt and improve upon the results of federally funded US research, fueling yet more discoveries and advances that can benefit the public that funded them.

Additional information about the OSTP Forum on “How Best to Make Federally Funded Research Results Available For Free” can be found at their blog.

From the University of California–

Researchers at the University of California have partnered with dozens of other universities and agencies to create DataONE, a global data access and preservation network for Earth and environmental scientists that will support breakthroughs in environmental research. DataONE (Data Observation Network for Earth) is one of two $20 million awards made this year as part of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) DataNet program. The collaboration of universities and government agencies coalesced to address the mounting need for organizing and serving up vast amounts of highly diverse and inter-related but often incompatible scientific data. Resulting studies will range from research that illuminates fundamental environmental processes to identifying environmental problems and potential solutions. (more…)

The Modern Language Association’s Committee on Information Technology (CIT) created a wiki for “The Evaluation of Digital Work.” It allows any teacher or scholar to contribute and use content on developing, gathering, and sharing material about the evaluation of digital work for hiring, tenure, promotion, and other rewards of the profession.  The URL is http://wiki.mla.org/index.php/Evaluation_Wiki. (more…)

The Texas A&M University Press has blogged about the open access availability of the Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology:
http://tamupress.blogspot.com/2009/10/charles-backus-at-ithaka-forum.html.  Check out the e-books for yourself.  They are available in the Texas A&M Digital Repository http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/85762.