NAGPS Press Release & Statement Regarding Open Access
Challenges, Impact, and Opportunities Regarding Open Access to Federally-Funded Research to be Discussed in House Hearing
Washington, D.C.
July 26, 2010
This Thursday, July 29, a hearing entitled "Public Access to Federally-Funded Research," will be held by the Information Policy, Census, and National Archives Subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives. From the notice:
“The hearing will examine the state of public access to federally-funded research in science, technology, and medicine. The hearing will assess and delineate the complex issues surrounding public access policies. The hearing will afford an opportunity for representatives from the areas of publishing, science and research, education and patient care to provide perspective on challenges, potential impact and opportunities regarding increased access.”
This hearing continues a trend of increased government interest towards open public access to federally-funded research. The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, Inc. (NAGPS) has been actively lobbying for open access to publicly-funded research and has submitted a position statement detailing the benefits of open access to both the graduate and professional student community as well as the American public:
"Open access facilitates the openness, transparency, dissemination, and accessibility of research results. The potential of open access is to allow research paid for by government issued, taxpayer dollars, to be released from the paywalls that quarantine these results to only elite institutions. Instead, K-12, college, professional and graduate students, scientists, corporations, and the public will be able to freely obtain and share the most current results of the academic community."
This Thursday we will continue our ongoing effort to urge Congress to take action and support open access to research. This topic was an area of focus in the NAGPS- coordinated Fall 2009 & Spring 2010 Legislative Action Days (LAD) events where delegates from numerous member universities held over 130 legislative and staff visits. Open access and the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) will remain top issues for our upcoming October LAD event.
The hearing will be held Thursday, July 29, at 2:00 PM in Rayburn House Office Building, room 2154.
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The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, Inc. (NAGPS) represents the interests of 2.6 million graduate and professional students nationwide. NAGPS provides resources, support, and connections to member organizations, and advocates on their behalf, both locally and nationally. For more information on NAGPS, visit http://nagps.org
Press Contacts:
Patrick Gage Kelley
Director of Communications, NAGPS
communications@nagps.org
(716) 417.3926
Alex Evans
President & CEO, NAGPS
president@nagps.org
Open Access to Federally-Funded Research and the Impact on the Nation’s Graduate Students
Washington, D.C.
July 26, 2010
On behalf of graduate and professional students nationwide, the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, Inc. (NAGPS) puts forth the following statements regarding the possibility of open access to research:
- A primary goal of graduate students is to become professional researchers. Research for most is not a hobby, and not a job, but becomes a lifetime pursuit. Open access would enable their work to be explored free of charge by any interested party.
- Graduate students working on major research projects need to be aware of related work to properly cite prior art, to assess the direction of the field, and to understand where their own work fits into a larger body of research. Open access would allow for timely access to recent work across the entire academic community. This can prevent graduate students from lacking access to a seminal article, from duplicating a prior conclusion, and can allow them to more efficiently work towards their own potentially groundbreaking findings.
- In today's difficult job market, students need all the help they can get to market themselves amongst their peers. Open access would allow more people to read graduate students’ publications, which could lead to a greater appreciation of their work, future citations, and publishing opportunities. Cultivating a community of researchers who appreciate their work is a core component of success in the post- graduation market.
- Graduate students often serve as teaching assistants. Teaching courses which may be outside of their principal research area requires them to quickly and efficiently access a large body of research to perform their course duties. Open access would allow both teaching assistants and their undergraduate students the ability to freely, quickly, and easily access any pertinent academic research.
- Finally, as young researchers, graduate students are often involved in innovations on the cutting-edge, such as green energy initiatives, emergency response work, and internet and data policy. Open access could lead these research teams toward the next revolutionary breakthrough. Federally-funded research aims not just to help academics further their careers and publish papers, but to solve real-world problems that advance our country’s science, technology, and policy.
Open access facilitates the openness, transparency, dissemination, and accessibility of research results. The potential of open access is to allow research paid for by government issued, taxpayer dollars, to be released from the paywalls that quarantine these results to only elite institutions. Instead, K-12, college, professional and graduate students, scientists, corporations, and the public will be able to freely obtain and share the most current results of the academic community.
Graduate students are intimately involved in reading, reviewing, creating, and publishing academic research. However, this pursuit is not only to attain a university professorship or a job at a top research firm, but to enhance humanity’s understanding of science and our world, and to benefit society as a whole.
We urge Congress to take action to support open access.
Alex Evans President & CEO, NAGPS president@nagps.org
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The National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, Inc. (NAGPS) represents the interests of 2.6 million graduate and professional students nationwide. NAGPS provides resources, support, and connections to member organizations, and advocates on their behalf, both locally and nationally.
For more information on NAGPS, visit http://nagps.org
Press Contact:
Patrick Gage Kelley
Director of Communications, NAGPS
communications@nagps.org
(716) 417.3926
