UK Government creates working group to review how publicly funded research can be more widely disseminated

A working party set up to review academic publishing and research dissemination, including open access, will meet for the first time in October 2011 and report back in Spring 2012. The working party is chaired by Professor Janet Finch, University of Manchester and includes researchers, funders, libraries and publishers. Speaking at the British Science Festival in Bradford, David Willetts, Science Minister, emphasised the working group will play an important role in reviewing research dissemination, saying "Transparency is at the heart of the government’s agenda and it should apply to published research. We do fantastic research in the UK, of which we can be rightly proud, but I want to ensure that people are given the opportunity to know more about the projects that government funds. Research stimulates and fuels innovation and economic growth. So, to maximise UK innovation we need to maximise access to and the use of research findings.”

Department for Business and Skills news release

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Consultation on scientific information in the digital age: last chance to register your views

(Now closed)

The European Commission is interested in your views on access to and preservation of digital scientific information. The consultation phase closes on the 9th September. The questionnaire is online at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/consultations/scientific_information/consultation_en.htm