WIREDGOV

Welcoming the report published today by Dame Janet Finch and her Working Group, Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said:“Opening up access to publicly-funded research findings is a key commitment for this Government. Proposed initiatives like providing access to findings for research-intensive small companies and making peer-reviewed journals available for free at public libraries would foster innovation, drive growth and open up a new area of academic discovery. “This comprehensive report will make a vital contribution to the development of policy on open access, which we will be setting out in the near future.”

Notes to editors 1. The Higher Education Funding Council for England is currently considering making open access published research the basis for the Research Excellence Framework from 2014.

2. Research Councils issued earlier this year a proposed draft policy for future Open Access of their funded research which is consistent with the Finch Report. The final settled policy details will be released in the coming months.

3. The report is likely to influence the development of open access policy in Europe and elsewhere including the United States. The European Union is expected to want to move towards open access as the basis of the publication of research under its future Horizon 2020 research programme.

4. The report’s recommendations refer to the future use of article processing charges (APCs), designed to sustain a high quality peer review process and ensure that users have immediate and full unrestricted access to published research findings. UK funding bodies are expected to be in favour of this approach and full details of how APCs will be funded will form part of their future detailed policy considerations.

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