A majority of U.S. adults say federally funded research findings on health issues and other topics should be available for free to doctors and the general public, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll.
In an online survey of 2,501 U.S. adults, more than 80% of Americans say they agree strongly or somewhat that research should be available for free via the Internet because the research is paid for with U.S. tax dollars.
In addition, 81% of Americans say they agree strongly or somewhat that access to such research data will help those living with a chronic illness or disability to get the latest information that might assist them.
And 62% of Americans say they agree strongly or somewhat that making the information available online and for free "will help speed up finding potential cures for diseases," compared to 10% who disagree somewhat or strongly.
A table of the full results is included in the article but I don't have room to insert it here.
Comment. This is a shot in the arm for the CURES Act and FRPAA, the two bills now before Congress that would mandate OA to publicly-funded research. Scientists and scholars may not carry much weight in Washington these days, but strong poll numbers from a respected pollster are hard to ignore.
I suspect that these poll results could be replicated in most countries around the world. Could a UK version of this poll save the draft RCUK OA policy from being weakened by publisher lobbying?
Update. When I first posted this news, the poll itself was not yet online at the Harris web site. But now it is.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 5/31/2006 02:51:00 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.
