NYSHEI News

Delivering timely, open, online access to the results of federally funded research in the United States will significantly increase the return on the public’s investment in science, according to a new study by John Houghton at the Centre for Strategic Economic Studies at Victoria University. The study, “The Economic and Social Returns on Investment in Open Archiving Publicly Funded Research Outputs,” co-authored by Bruce Rasmussen and Peter Sheehan, was released today by SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition).

Public funding of scientific, technical, and medical research assumes that economic and social returns to taxpayers will exceed the amount of the research investment. A proposal currently before the U.S. Congress – the Federal Research Public Access Act, H.R. 5037 and S. 1373 (FRPAA) – seeks to ensure and maximize the public’s return by delivering open online access to the results of research funded through 11 federal agencies no later than six months after publication in a journal. The Victoria University study outlines one approach to measuring the potential impact of this policy on returns on public investment in research and development (R&D).

The new study examines the effect of key variables that influence the potential return on investment from this research.  These variables concern both access to research – including content embargoes – and the efficiency with which research is applied in practice.  The study also defines the additional data and model developments necessary for an accurate estimate of the policy’s likely impact.

Depending on the assumed cost of data repositories, the study’s preliminary models suggest that FRPAA’s enactment could lead to a return on the public’s investment of between four and 24 times the costs. Two thirds of this return would accrue within the United States, with the remainder spilling over to other countries.  In the U.S., the study suggests that the benefits of public access might total between three and 16 times the cost of the public’s investment.  ¬¬

The study closely examines the model’s sensitivity to critical assumptions and concludes that the benefits of public access would exceed the costs over a wide range of values.  As the study’s authors note, “[I]t is difficult to imagine any plausible values for the input data and model parameters that would lead to a fundamentally different answer.”

“It’s important that discussions about the risks and benefits of public access to government-funded research focus on empirical evidence and rational argument,” added Raym Crow, SPARC Senior Consultant. “The model Houghton and his colleagues have developed facilitates such a logical approach and provides a framework for assessing objectively the economic effect of various scenarios.”

The report’s findings are based on available evidence. To enable others to explore the modeling, an online model is available from http://www.cfses.com/FRPAA. The full study, “The Economic and Social Returns on Investment in Open Archiving Publicly Funded Research Outputs,” is available on the SPARC Web site at http://www.arl.org/sparc.

##
SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan, is an international alliance of more than 800 academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication. SPARC’s advocacy, educational and publisher partnership programs encourage expanded dissemination of research. SPARC is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/sparc.

NYSHEI is a active partner of SPARC and the Alliance for Taxpayer Access

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing on the issue of Public Access to Federally Funded Research on Thursday, July 29 at 2pm EST in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2154.

The hearing is being convened by the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and
National Archives (Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO), and is intended to provide an opportunity for members of Congress
to hear the perspective of a broad range of stakeholders on the potential impact of opening up access to the
results of federally funded research.

NYSHEI stands with  SPARC and our fellow coalition members in the Open Access Working Group and Alliance for Taxpayer Access.  Together we have been active in requesting that such a hearing take place. This is a wonderful opportunity for Congress to become more deeply educated on the nuances of public access, and also to position FRPAA to receive heightened attention and consideration for further movement.

The Subcommittee’s interest stems from the growing number of visible expressions of interest in the issue of public access that have surfaced in recent months, in both the Legislative and Executive branches of government. Notably, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this year hosted a Public Access Policy Forum on mechanisms that would leverage federal investments in scientific research and increase access to information.

Additionally, H.R. 5037, the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA), which was introduced into the House on April 15 by Rep. Mike Doyle (R-PA) and is supported by a growing bi-partisan host of cosponsors, was referred to the Committee. The bill, and its identical Senate counterpart (introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX)), proposes to require those eleven federal agencies with extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to implement policies that deliver timely, free, online public access to the published results of the research they fund.

According to the notice:

“The hearing will examine the state of public access to federally-funded research in science, technology, and medicine. The hearing will assess and delineate the complex issues surrounding public access policies. The hearing will afford an opportunity for representatives from the areas of publishing, science and research, education and patient care to provide perspective on challenges, potential impact and opportunities regarding increased access.”

This open, public hearing will be held Thursday, July 29, at 2:00 PM in Rayburn House Office Building, room 2154.

“We are pleased that the Committee is creating this opportunity to shine a light on the issue of public access and examine the opportunities and implications it presents in an open, public forum,” said Heather Joseph, spokesperson for the Alliance for Taxpayer Access and Executive Director of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition). “This is an issue of deep importance to a wide range of stakeholders – from scientists to students, entrepreneurs to educators, publishers and the public. We welcome this chance for a diverse array of viewpoints on the issue to be heard.”

The growing interest in exploring effective public access policies in the U.S. reflects a larger worldwide trend. Around the globe, national and non-profit funding agencies are recognizing the opportunity to increase the return on their research grants by requiring that findings be made freely accessible on the Internet.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan (ARRP), commonly known as the federal stimulus package, is making it’s way to the states.

So what?

That is the big question.

Governor Paterson’s office has put together a useful website illustrating the various parts of New York’s share ($24.6 billion) of the stimulus package.  While the web site appears organized, media accounts paint a different picture.

What any of this means for your library is still unclear.  Paterson administration officials inform me that most of the stimulus money will go towards restoring cuts proposed in the executive budget and otherwise closing portions of the budget deficit.  This could result in the restoration of Coordinated Collection Development Aid (CCDA), currently slated for a 10.86 percent cut.  $2.5 billion is slated to restore education cuts, so restoration of the $250,000 that was to be cut specifically from CCDA seems probable.

For ARIA the results are more opaque.  Administration officials have indicated that ARIA funding for academic and research libraries is on the list of suitable projects for ARRP funding.  Potential funding lines under ARRP would be “enhanced education technology,” “science facilities, research, instrumentation,” or other pots of discretionary spending.

NYSHEI will continue to work with the Paterson administration to restore funding for proposed cuts (CCDA) and establish a line of ARIA funding through FY2010-11.

You can help – and many already have.   Last week, a number of you send emails urging state leaders to fund ARIA.  There is still time to tell the Governor that the job and research supporting information infrastructure we call ARIA deserves funding.

The Governing Board of NYSHEI has joined the chorus of opposition to H.R. 801, the “Fair Copyright in Research Works” act introduced in the House of Representatives by John Conyers (D-MI).

Joining groups like the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) and the Association of Research Libraries, NYSHEI unequivocally opposes this legislation that would prohibit American taxpayers from accessing the results of the crucial biomedical research funded by their taxpayer dollars, and stifle critical advancements in life-saving research and scientific discovery.

“This is a very bad bill,” said NYSHEI Executive Director Jason Kramer.  “Knowledge and information should be widely available to the public – particularly when the public paid for it.”

“As exemplified by ARIA (Academic Research Information Access), NYSHEI strives to broaden access to all manner of information.  We therefore must strongly object to Mr. Conyers proposal,” said Kramer.

NYSHEI is asking the entire New York Congressional delegation to oppose this legislation and asks all NYSHEI member librarians to similarly voice their opposition.

More information about HR801 is available.