White House Bans Paywalls on Taxpayer-Funded Research

[Eric]

Glad to see this being addressed.

White House Bans Paywalls on Taxpayer-Funded Research - ExtremeTech

New rule: If we the taxpayers funded the research, you the privately held company don't get to deny access to it using a paywall.

www.extremetech.com

The White House has updated federal rules to close a loophole that enabled journals to keep taxpayer-funded research behind a paywall.

This policy guidance will end the current “optional embargo” that allows scientific publishing houses to paywall taxpayer-funded research behind a subscription to the whole journal. These costs add up quickly. For a college or university, even the bare minimum of journal subscriptions can add up to thousands of dollars a year, which is a hard sell on a limited budget. And that’s just the required reading.

The new rule also expands the definition of a “scholarly publication” to include “not only peer-reviewed articles but also book chapters and conference proceedings.” And unlike the previous policy, which covered some 20 federal agencies, this new rule applies to all of them. In short: If we the people paid for the research, you the company don’t get to refuse us access to it.