Access2Research

A video by SPARC in support of the campaign.
A normalized heatmap of per-capita signatures to the petition by U.S. state. Highest support from Massachusetts (red), lowest from Mississippi (white).
The Access2Research Founders, Heather Joseph, John Wilbanks, Michael W. Carroll and Mike Rossner after meeting at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Access2Research is a campaign in the United States for academic journal publishing reform led by open access advocates Michael W. Carroll, Heather Joseph, Mike Rossner, and John Wilbanks.[1]

On May 20, 2012, it launched a petition to the White House to "require free access over the Internet to journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research".[2] The White House has committed to issue an official response to such petitions if they reach 25,000 signatures within 30 days.[3] Access2Research reached this milestone within two weeks.[4][5] On February 22, 2013, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and announced an executive directive ordering all US Federal Agencies with research & development budgets over $100M to develop public access policies within twelve months.

The petition builds on previous campaigns asking scholars, publishers, funders, governments and the general public to remove paywalls to publicly funded scholarly research. It follows initiatives previously targeted at academics such as The Cost of Knowledge calling for lower prices for scholarly journals and to promote increased access to scientific information. The campaign refers to the NIH Public Access Policy[6] as an example of a mandate that should be expanded to all federally funded research.[7][8][9][10]

  1. ^ "Access2:Research: About". Access2Research. 2012-04-27. Archived from the original on 2012-05-24. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  2. ^ "Require free access over the Internet to scientific journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research. | The White House". Wh.gov. 2012-05-13. Archived from the original on 2012-05-23. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  3. ^ "A good problem to have: Raising the signature threshold for White House petitions". whitehouse.gov. 2011-10-03. Archived from the original on January 23, 2017. Retrieved 2012-05-27 – via National Archives.
  4. ^ "US open-access petition hits 25,000 signatures in two weeks". Research Information. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  5. ^ Neylon, Cameron (4 June 2012). "25000 Signatures in Two Weeks: What Does It Mean?". PLoS Blogs Network. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012.
  6. ^ "NIH Public Access Policy Details". nih.gov. Archived from the original on 2011-11-01. Retrieved 2012-05-27.
  7. ^ Taylor, Mike (22 May 2012). "US petition could tip the scales in favour of open access publishing". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  8. ^ Howard, Jennifer (23 May 2012). "Petition urges White House to Require public access to federally financed research". Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  9. ^ Arbesman, Samuel (23 May 2012). "A Petition for Free Online Access of Taxpayer-funded Research". Wired. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
  10. ^ Poynder, Richard (25 May 2012). "Open Access: The People's Petition". Open & Shut?. Retrieved 27 May 2012.