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** Cross-Posted ** Full hyperlinked text: http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/867-guid.html EXCERPT: The US Research Works Act (H.R.3699): "No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or otherwise engage in any policy, program, or other activity that -- (1) causes, permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any private-sector research work without the prior consent of the publisher of such work; or (2) requires that any actual or prospective author, or the employer of such an actual or prospective author, assent to network dissemination of a private-sector research work." Translation and Comments: "If public tax money is used to fund research, that research becomes "private research" once a publisher "adds value" to it by managing the peer review." [Comment: Researchers do the peer review for the publisher for free, just as researchers give their papers to the publisher for free, together with the exclusive right to sell subscriptions to it, on-paper and online, seeking and receiving no fee or royalty in return]. "Since that public research has thereby been transformed into "private research," and the publisher's property, the government that funded it with public tax money should not be allowed to require the funded author to make it accessible for free online for those users who cannot afford subscription access." [Comment: The author's sole purpose in doing and publishing the research, without seeking any fee or royalties, is so that all potential users can access, use and build upon it, in further research and applications, to the benefit of the public that funded it; this is also the sole purpose for which public tax money is used to fund research.]" H.R. 3699 misunderstands the secondary, service role that peer-reviewed research journal publishing plays in US research and development and its (public) funding…. Continued at: http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/867-guid.html Stevan Harnad On Fri Jan 6 16:43:10, Jennifer McLennan wrote: > Subject: [GOAL] Take Action: Oppose H.R. 3699, > a new bill to block public access to publicly funded research > > A new bill, The Research Works Act (H.R.3699), designed to roll > back the NIH Public Access Policy and block the development of > similar policies at other federal agencies has been introduced into > the U.S. House of Representatives. Co-sponsored by Darrell Issa > (R-CA) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), it was introduced on December > 16, 2011, and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government > Reform. > > Essentially, the bill seeks to prohibit federal agencies from > conditioning their grants to require that articles reporting on > publicly funded research be made accessible to the public online. > > The bill text is short and to the point. The main point reads: > > "No Federal agency may adopt, implement, maintain, continue, or > otherwise engage in any policy, program, or other activity that -- > (1) causes, permits, or authorizes network dissemination of any > private-sector research work without the prior consent of the > publisher of such work; or (2) requires that any actual or prospective > author, or the employer of such an actual or prospective author, > assent to network dissemination of a private-sector research work." > > Supporters of public access to the results of publicly funded > research need to speak out against this proposed legislation. Contact > Congress to express your opposition today, or as soon as possible. > > For contact information and details on how to act, see the Alliance > for Taxpayer Access Action Center at: http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/action. >