Report from BIS inquiry on open access
The UK Government’s Business, Innovation and Skills Committee published their report today following an inquiry into open access.
Parliament announced the report, emphasising the role of repositories:
“The Government’s commitment to increasing access to published research findings, and its desire to achieve full open access, are welcome, says the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee in a Report published today. However, whilst Gold open access is a desirable ultimate goal, focusing on it during the transition to a fully open access world is a mistake, says the Report.
The Report calls on the Government and RCUK to reconsider their preference for Gold open access during the five year transition period, and give due regard to the evidence of the vital role that Green open access and repositories have to play as the UK moves towards full open access.”
SPARC Europe welcomed the report with this response, stating that “we expect the research community now broadly to support the recommendations contained in this new report.”
Among other things the report recommends that RCUK realigns its policy to match that of HEFCE’s post-2014 REF proposals, which mandates immediate deposit in an institutional repository.