EURAB propone hacer obligatorio el acceso abierto a la investigación financiada bajo el FP7
[Date: 2007-01-10]
EURAB (European Research Advisory Board) es un comité asesor independiente, formado por expertos de varios países, creado por la Comisión Europea para ofrecer consejo sobre el diseño y la implementación de la política científica europea.
Este comité acaba de publicar un informe en el que recomienda a la Comisión Europea que considere el establecimiento de un mandato según el cual todos los investigadores financiados bajo el séptimo programa marco (FP7) estarían obligados a publicar los resultados de su investigación en un repositorio «open access» con un periodo de embargo de 6 meses desde su publicación inicial.
Os mando el texto completo de la noticia de prensa. Si queréis podéis leer el texto completo del informe aquí.
The open access debate has been triggered by the rapid and radicalchange in science communication brought about by the rise of theinternet. There is also a desire to disseminate more widely the resultsof publicly funded research in order to raise awareness of the benefitsof investing in science, and at the same time to bring down the costsof research for public authorities. Public funding bodies are currentlypaying three times for research, according to EURAB. First they pay forthe research itself, then for peer review, and finally for a librarysubscription to the journal in which the resulting paper is published.Additional author-side fees levied by traditional toll-access journalsmay be considered a fourth cost.
The Commission has three roles to play in drafting and implementinga policy on open access, says EURAB: as a funding body, a policy body,and a supporting body.
As a funding body, the Commission seek to increase the visibilityof, and improve access to, research funded by the Commission withoutcompromising the freedom of scientists to publish where they feel ismost appropriate.
A key recommendation is that the Commission considers instructingthose receiving FP7 funding to lodge any publications resulting fromtheir research in an open access repository as soon as possible afterpublication. The paper should be made openly accessible within sixmonths.
EURAB says that the repository could be a local institution ordedicated to a specific subject. Deposit should be made once a journalor conference has accepted it for publication, and the repositoryshould release the metadata immediately, with access restrictions tothe full text article to be applied as required. Open access shouldthen be implemented as soon as practicable after the author-requestedembargo, or within six months, whichever comes first.
EURAB suggests that the Commission begins the roll out of such acomplex policy issue with research funded by the European ResearchCouncil (ERC), which came into being with the launch of FP7.
As a supporting body, the Commission should place emphasis onstreamlining the process of deposit for researchers, and on standardsfor supporting interoperability. In this context, the Commission shouldintroduce a specific supporting action in every FP7 thematic priorityto facilitate the use of deposit in open access repositories, statesthe EURAB report.
The Commission’s role as a policy body should be to encourage allMember States to promote open access publication policies for all oftheir publicly funded research.
A communication on scientific publishing is expected shortly from the European Commission.