SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) and CARL (the Canadian Association of Research Libraries) --together representing over 200 academic and research libraries across North America-- commend the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the strength and timeliness of its Draft Policy on Access to Research Outputs.
The Draft Policy will govern peer-reviewed journal publications, research materials, and final research data stemming from CIHR funding, It marks a significant step forward for Canadian science and puts Canada in the forefront of the global open access movement. CIHR is the major federal agency responsible for funding health research in Canada.
In its response to the Draft Policy SPARC presents three recommendations for refinement: [1] That grantees be required to comply with the policy; [2] That the specifications for qualified archives and repositories should be explicitly detailed; and [3] That articles must be deposited immediately upon publication in an open archive, but to offer the flexibility of allowing the grant or award recipient to perform the deposit or to require the journal (or another agent) to make the deposit on the researcher's behalf and in compliance with CIHR requirements.
The SPARC letter also highlights the importance of access to data....
In its response CARL asks that CIHR work with stakeholders [1] To develop a Canadian-based solution for housing and making accessible the outputs of CIHR-funded research over the long term; [2] To implement a more structured approach to providing access to research data; and [3] To ensure that compliance to the policy is linked to future funding decisions....
The CARL letter is also supported by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL).
"SPARC commends CIHR's goals as well as the overall draft policy, which is strong, timely and consistent with emerging practice internationally," said SPARC Director Heather Joseph. "We encourage CIHR to continue to move forward and implement a policy that effectively ensures the open sharing of CIHR research outputs." ...
The SPARC letter to CIHR is online [here]. The CARL letter is online [here].
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/29/2006 08:47:00 AM.
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.
