CIHR is initiating a process to develop a research policy that will promote access to the knowledge and resources generated from CIHR-funded research. Currently, CIHR encourages recipients of research support to make the results of all research publicly available. However, CIHR does not have a formal policy governing access to the products of CIHR-funded research, including physical products, research data and published results. The aim is to establish a policy that will both help researchers gain access to the products of research and support CIHR's efforts in facilitating the translation and use of knowledge, while taking into account ethical and legal considerations. Furthermore, as a recipient of public funds there is an obligation to Canadians to ensure that the results and products of research supported by CIHR are disseminated as widely as possible so that all parties benefit from these research outcomes.
The policy governing access to the products of research has been separated into three broad categories: [1] physical products of research (i.e., cell lines, DNA libraries, PCR primers); [2] structural and functional data typically deposited in public databases (i.e., genomic data, DNA sequences, protein sequences); [3] peer-reviewed published results. CIHR has invited a number of Canadian health researchers to serve on an Advisory Committee, which will guide the development and implementation of this policy. In the near future, CIHR will be launching an initial online survey, with a series of prompts and questions regarding the general scope and content of a proposed policy. Feedback from the broad health research community will be carefully considered by the Advisory Committee during policy development. We welcome comments from the full range of stakeholders including other government departments and research agencies, health research societies, health charities, and industry partners. Once a detailed draft policy has been prepared, it will be posted on our web site for a second round of public consultations. Please visit CIHR's web site in the coming weeks to see more information about this initiative. If you have any questions related to CIHR's plans to develop a policy concerning Access to the Products of Research, please contact Geoff Hynes, Research Officer, ghynes@cihr-irsc.gc.ca, (613) 952-8965.
Update. The announcement above solicited comments but didn't say when they were due. A new release from CIHR says that comments are due by May 15, 2006. CIHR has also posted an online survey to collect stakeholder opinions.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/04/2006 07:50:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
