[BOAI] Re: Research Works Act H.R.3699: The Private Publishing Tail Trying Again To Wag The Public Research Dog

[Allen Kleiman]

Has this bill been passed into law?

Has it been challenged in a legal proceeding?

 

-----Original Message-----
From: boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk
[mailto:boai-forum-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Stevan Harnad
Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2012 7:12 PM
To: Global Open Access List (Successor of AmSci)
Subject: [BOAI] Research Works Act H.R.3699: The Private Publishing Tail
Trying Again To Wag The Public Research Dog

** Cross-Posted **

Full hyperlinked text:
http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/867-guid.html

EXCERPT:

The US Research Works Act (H.R.3699):
"No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or otherwise
engage in any policy, program, or other activity that -- (1) causes,
permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any private-sector research
work without the prior consent of the publisher of such work; or (2)
requires that any actual or prospective author, or the employer of such an
actual or prospective author, assent to network dissemination of a
private-sector research work."

Translation and Comments:

"If public tax money is used to fund research, that research becomes
"private research" once a publisher "adds value" to it by managing the peer
review."

[Comment: Researchers do the peer review for the publisher for free, just as
researchers give their papers to the publisher for free, together with the
exclusive right to sell subscriptions to it, on-paper and online, seeking
and receiving no fee or royalty in return].

"Since that public research has thereby been transformed into "private
research," and the publisher's property, the government that funded it with
public tax money should not be allowed to require the funded author to make
it accessible for free online for those users who cannot afford subscription
access."

[Comment: The author's sole purpose in doing and publishing the research,
without seeking any fee or royalties, is so that all potential users can
access, use and build upon it, in further  research and applications, to the
benefit of the public that funded it; this is also the sole purpose for
which public tax money is used to fund research.]"

H.R. 3699 misunderstands the secondary, service role that peer-reviewed
research journal publishing plays in US research and development and its
(public) funding..

Continued at:
http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/867-guid.html

Stevan Harnad


On Fri Jan 6 16:43:10, Jennifer McLennan wrote:

> Subject: [GOAL] Take Action: Oppose H.R. 3699, a new bill to block 
> public access to publicly funded research
>
> A new bill, The Research Works Act (H.R.3699), designed to roll back 
> the NIH Public Access Policy and block the development of similar 
> policies at other federal agencies has been introduced into the U.S. 
> House of Representatives. Co-sponsored by Darrell Issa
> (R-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), it was introduced on December 16, 
> 2011, and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government 
> Reform.
>
> Essentially, the bill seeks to prohibit federal agencies from 
> conditioning their grants to require that articles reporting on 
> publicly funded research be made accessible to the public online.
>
> The bill text is short and to the point. The main point reads:
>
> "No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or 
> otherwise engage in any policy, program, or other activity that --
> (1) causes, permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any 
> private-sector research work without the prior consent of the 
> publisher of such work; or (2) requires that any actual or prospective 
> author, or the employer of such an actual or prospective author, 
> assent to network dissemination of a private-sector research work."
>
> Supporters of public access to the results of publicly funded research 
> need to speak out against this proposed legislation. Contact Congress 
> to express your opposition today, or as soon as possible.
>
> For contact information and details on how to act, see the Alliance 
> for Taxpayer Access Action Center at:
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/action.
>

        
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