[GOAL] UK House of Lords Science & Technology Committee: Lack of clarity over open access is "unacceptable"

[Richard Poynder]

The House of Lords Science & Technology Committee has today published its
report on implementation of the UK government's Open Access policy.

 

Commenting, Lord Krebs, Chairman of the House of Lords Science and
Technology Committee, said:

 

"RCUK did not consult or communicate effectively with key stakeholders in
the publishing and academic communities when implementing its open access
policy. While we are delighted that our inquiry has shown that RCUK are
proposing to phase in their open access policy during the initial five-year
implementation phase, this should have been made clear much earlier. That is
why we call upon the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to
review how RCUK communicated this important change.

 

"There are still many unknowns concerning the impact of the open access
policy, which is why RCUK must commit to a wide rangeing review of its
policy in 2014, 2016 and before it expects full compliance in 2018. We heard
significant concern about the policy's 'one-size-fits-all' approach, and are
pleased that RCUK are both aware of these concerns and prepared to act on
them.

 

"Open access is an inexorable trend. The Government must ensure that in
further developing our capabilities to share research they do not
inadvertently damage the 'complex ecosystem' of research communication in
the UK."

 

The report is available here: http://ow.ly/hWw0f

 

RCUK's response is here: http://ow.ly/hWwaE

 

Times Higher news story here: http://ow.ly/hWxbT

 

A background piece here: http://j.mp/11XPsoX

 

 

 

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