US research wants to be free

Two senior US senators have introduced legislation that would require government-funded research to be published in open access journals six months after appearing on subscription-only sites. This follows a report recommending the same to the EU. The UK Research Councils are still prevaricating after a gale of criticism from publishers when they proposed open access requirements last year:

Peter Willis, Liberal Democrat MP and chairman of the science and technology select committee, said the proposed US law should serve as a warning to the government this side of the Atlantic that the current model needs to be changed. "This is yet another example of the dissemination of research moving into the 21st century and the UK must not be left behind," he said. "To cling on to what are basically 19th-century principles of publishing research seems to me a rather bizarre concept in the 21st century."