Support public access to research we fund

Nobel Prize-winning scientists support online access to federally funded research results to spur innovation

Last week, 41 Nobel-Prize winning scientists issued an open letter to Congress, calling on lawmakers to ensure that the results of scientific research conducted using taxpayer dollars be put online, and made accessible to and useable by the public. As extraordinary as it seems, at a time when you can get information on just about anything on the Internet, the results of our substantial national investment in science – over $60 billion per year – are not readily accessible to those who paid for it.

Here's the text of the letter itself. There's more on the Federal Research Access Act (S. 1373) from the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, too.

There's really something wrong when publishers can make megamillions or even billions on research funded by our own taxes. Public access through depositories such as PubMed Central are an important step to making that research available.

Thanks, Steven.