For Immediate Release
Contact: Ranit Schmelzer, 202.538.1065, [email protected]
Washington, DC (October 19, 2017) – Following is a statement by Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, on the introduction of the BASIC Research Act. The bill was introduced by U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).
“While we’re pleased that the BASIC Research Act includes language to make public access to federally funded research articles the law of the land, we are concerned that the balance of the bill contains provisions that would be harmful to the scientific research process and which SPARC cannot support.
“Of particular concern are provisions that would significantly alter the current peer review process for all federal research grants, as well as the creation of a new “Special Inspector General’s Office” with sweeping jurisdiction to adjudicate the “value of research to taxpayers,” but lacking any specific measures of value.
“We urge members of Congress to put their energy behind supporting public access to publically funded research outputs, specifically the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act, but not as a part of the BASIC Research Act.”
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SPARC®, the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, is a global coalition committed to making Open the default for research and education. SPARC empowers people to solve big problems and make new discoveries though the adoption of policies and practices that advance Open Access, Open Data, and Open Education. Learn more at sparcopen.org.