UK joins universities nationwide in support of Open Access

UK has a history of supporting public access to research.  In 2008 the University Senate passed a resolution supporting the 2008 National Institutes of Health’s policy providing public access to publicly funded research.  Former Provost Kumble Subbaswamy signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities three years ago.  In addition, UK Libraries is a member of the Coalition of Open Access Policy Institutions (COAPI).

Provost Riordan

  This week Provost Christine Riordan signed an open letter supporting the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) demonstrating UK’s support for public access to research.  FASTR “would require that U.S. Government departments and agencies with annual extramural research expenditures of over $100 million to make manuscripts of journal articles stemming from research funded by that agency publicly available over the Internet.” 

“The manuscripts will be preserved in a digital archive maintained by that agency or in another suitable repository that permits free public access, interoperability, and long-term preservation.  Each manuscript will be available to users without charge within six months after it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.”   http://www.sparc.arl.org/advocacy/national/fastr/faq

The open letter and list of signatures are available here: http://www.sparc.arl.org/blog/opportunity-