Research Works Act Forces Debate About Access to Research Resulting From Both Public and Private Funding
While SOPA grabs entertainment industry headlines, a new bill introduced in the House of Representatives in December 2011 is creating quite a stir among research scientists. It’s called the Research Works Act. The purpose of the bill is “[t]o ensure the continued publication and integrity of peer-reviewed research works by the private sector.” The dispute is about public access to and control over research works that are funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but that also involve significant private funding.
Eric Widera describes the negative reaction to the bill by some scientists in his post entitled Copyright and Access to Taxpayer Funded Research, on GeriPal, a Geriatrics and Palliative Care Blog. Widera indicates that the Research Works Act poses a threat to the NIH public access policy.
