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1.8. The current Government’s position on access to research literature and the findings of research is set within the context of its broad objective of increased transparency.[1] There is some tension, however, between greater transparency and access on the one hand, and the objective of generating financial returns from the intellectual property created by researchers on the other; and a recognition that some of the results of research have to be protected from disclosure for commercial or other reasons. The Government also recognises the need to sustain the high standing and performance of the UK research base, and the high standards of peer review with which its success is closely associated. Finally, it recognises that there are limits to what can be achieved in the UK alone: action to promote access to research publications requires collaboration with international partners.
1.9. A key feature of the international environment over the past decade has been the growth of the open access movement. That movement has many different strands, and definitions and distinctions have become increasingly important as it has grown: between access without payment to a version of a publication through a repository (often called green open access) on the one hand, or to the version of record via the journal’s own platform (often termed gold open access) on the other; and between the removal of the payment barrier giving a right to read the article (sometimes termed gratis open access), and the removal in addition of most of the restrictions on use and re-use of the article (sometimes referred to as libre open access). The key points here are that there are different routes to open access, and that it is not just a matter of removing payment barriers, but of rights of use and reuse. Progress has not been as rapid as many had hoped, but it is clear that we are already moving towards a regime in which more content is made accessible free at the point of use to more people, in the UK and across the world.
1.10. It was in this context that David Willetts, the Minister of State for Universities and Science, held a round table in March 2011 at which representatives of the research, library and publishing communities from both the UK and the US considered measures that might be taken to improve access to research publications. Following that meeting, it was decided that a working group should be established to examine the current position with regard to access to research findings; to identify the mechanisms and key principles that would support the objective of improving access; to establish a shared vision; and to agree on a programme of action. It was also agreed that the working group would have to take account of the views and interests of the full range of stakeholders, and that it should therefore seek to proceed on a collaborative basis. After initial discussions in the summer of 2011, the Working Group was formally established in October 2011, sponsored by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Research Councils UK, and the Publishers Association. The
- ↑ Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth, 2011, p.76; David Willetts, Public Access to Publicly-Funded Research, Speech to the Publishers Association, , 2 May 2012.
