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

[Iryna Kuchma]

This bill hasn't been passed into law yet. It was introduced on December
16, 2011 into the U.S. House of Representatives, co-sponsored by Darrell
Issa (R-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), and referred to the Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform.

Supporters of public access to the results of publicly funded research need
to speak out against this proposed legislation now. 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.

Peter Suber is blogging about this bill at Google+ (see his post and all
the comments) http://bit.ly/yNGG2G <http://t.co/FD0bNf6t>

Best wishes,
Iryna

Iryna Kuchma
EIFL Open Access Programme Manager
www.eifl.net

On 8 January 2012 19:11, Allen Kleiman <allenk at panix.com> wrote:

> 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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