Recent News on Scholarly Communication
MIT Faculty Adopt University-Wide Open Access Policy
March 20, 2009 - Faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have voted to make their scholarly articles available to the public for free and open access on the Web.
NIH Public Access Mandate Made Permanent
March 12, 2009 - President Obama yesterday signed into law the 2009 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes a provision making the National Institutes’ of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy permanent.
Conyers Bill Reintroduced to New Congress
February 3, 2009 - H.R. 801, the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, has been introduced for the second Congress in a row by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), and co-sponsored by Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Darryl Issa (R-CA) and Robert Wexler (D-FL). This bill would have the effect of overturning the “open access” to research policy of the National Institutes of Health, which requires that research funded by the agency to be made available for free in an online archive within 12 months of publication.
University of Michigan to transfer OAIster to OCLC
January 21, 2009 - The University of Michigan and OCLC today announced that they have formed a partnership that will ensure continued public access to open-archive collections through the OAIster database, and will expand the visibility of these collections to millions of information seekers through OCLC services.
University of California Libraries and Springer Sign Open Access Agreement
January 21, 2009 - The University of California Libraries and Springer Science+Business Media (Springer) have concluded a ground-breaking experimental agreement to support open access publishing by UC authors. The arrangement is part of the journals license negotiated by the California Digital Library on behalf of the ten campuses of the University of California.
ALA Calls on Obama to Make Publicly Funded Research Open Access
December 17, 2008 - In an open report to President-Elect Obama and Vice President-Elect Biden, the American Library Association urged the new administration to embrace open access.
Authors, Publishers, and Google Reach Landmark Settlement
October 28, 2008 – The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google today announced a groundbreaking settlement agreement on behalf of a broad class of authors and publishers worldwide that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the U.S. from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search.
Texas A&M to host Scholarly Communication Symposium
October 1, 2008 - The Office of the Provost, The Texas A&M University Libraries, The Texas A&M University Press, and the Glasscock Center for Humanities research are sponsoring a symposium on Scholarly Communication in February 2009.
NIH Public Access Policy in Jeopardy
Sept. 18, 2008 - Congress is considering legislation that would end the NIH Public Access Policy and block any future open access mandates.
Law Professors Oppose Measure to End NIH Mandate
A letter from 46 law school professors from around the country addressed to Rep. John Conyers offers a look into the legal side of the measure.
First Open Access Day to be held October 14, 2008
August 28, 2008 - Groups unite to promote open access for publicly funded research.
MIT Libraries Data Group launches new website
August 27, 2008 - MIT Libraries has created a website to provide information on Data Management and Publishing.
Microsoft developing technology to improve Scholarly Communication
July 29, 2008 - The Microsoft External Research group has been working closely with researchers across the globe to develop new technologies in the field of Scholarly Communication.
Harvard University Adopts Open Access Policy
February 12, 2008 - The faculty of Harvard University adopted a policy requiring faculty researchers to make their publications freely available through open access.
Scientific Wiki solves the 'who wrote what' problem
September 2, 2008 - Scientist Robert Hoffmann unveils a next generation wiki that links every word to its author.
Congress hears testimony on H.R. 6845
September 15, 2008 - Congress held a hearing to discuss H.R. 6845, the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act.
SHERPA adds new features to RoMEO
September 10, 2008 - SHERPA announced the addition of three new features to their RoMEO service.
SPARC enews for September 2008
September 17, 2008 - The September 2008 issue of SPARC enews is now available, featuring an important update on the NIH policy.
PLoS and SPARC release new "Voices of Open Access" video series
October 14, 2008 - A new video series presents six unique perspectives on the importance of Open Access to research across the higher education community and beyond.
Google reaches agreement with authors and publishers
October 28, 2008 - The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google today announced a groundbreaking settlement agreement that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials.
University of California Libraries and Springer Sign Open Access Agreement
January 21, 2009 - The University of California Libraries and Springer Science+Business Media (Springer) have concluded a ground-breaking experimental agreement to support open access publishing by UC authors. The arrangement is part of the journals license negotiated by the California Digital Library on behalf of the ten campuses of the University of California.