...Developments in information and communications technologies are transforming the nature and scale of research, enhancing both quality and productivity. They are facilitating new kinds of research, new organisational models, and collaboration across disciplinary, institutional and national boundaries. But they also demand new ways of thinking about how we manage data and information outputs, so that we can maximise their value, and ensure that precious resources are not lost. In pursuance of those goals, the fundamental policy objective is to ensure that
Ideas and knowledge derived from publicly-funded research should be made available and accessible for public use, interrogation, and scrutiny, as widely, rapidly and effectively as practicable....
The five principles are set out below in an order that reflects the lifecycle through which digital research data are created, used and made accessible over the long term. We believe that the principles should be adopted by universities and other research institutions, libraries and data services, publishers, research funders, as well as researchers themselves....
Principle 3: access, usage and credit
24. In order to achieve the fundamental policy objective of availability and accessibility, it is essential that
Digital research data should be easy to find, and access should be provided in an environment which maximises ease of use; provides credit for and protects the rights of those who have gathered or created data; and protects the rights of those who have legitimate interests in how data are made accessible and used.
25. The policy objective requires that the research community as a whole, and any others who have an interest in the data should have timely, user-friendly access to relevant data, and at the lowest possible cost. Free and open access, without restriction as to use, should be the default option wherever possible. But the access objective does not imply that all data should be made available immediately to all those who may have an interest in it, and some restrictions on access may be legitimate or necessary. Indeed, there is a need to balance conflicting interests and rights, where some rights – of research institutions or funders, data owners or subjects, or researchers themselves – may trump others....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 2/01/2008 10:27:00 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.
