UK Government Invests £10 Million to Help Universities Move to Open Access

From a Department for Business, Innovation & Skills Announcement:

A £10 million Government investment [$16 Million/USD] announced today [Friday, September 7, 2012] by Universities and Science Minister David Willetts will help universities with the transition to open access to publicly-funded research findings. The investment will enable a number of research-intensive UK institutions to kick-start the process of developing policies and setting up funds to meet the costs of article processing charges (APCs). This is in line with the recommendations of the Finch report on open access, published in June.
Speaking at the British Science Festival in Aberdeen, David Willetts said:
“Removing paywalls surrounding publicly-funded research findings is a key commitment for this Government and will have real economic and social benefits.
“This extra £10 million investment will help some of our universities move across to the open access model. This will usher in a new era of academic discovery and keep the UK at the forefront of research to drive innovation and growth.”
The investment will be made to 30 institutions receiving funding through Research Councils and UK higher education funding councils. It is in addition to the contribution RCUK will be making to institutions to support payment of APCs associated with open access through block funding grants from 1 April 2013 onwards. More details of this will be announced in the autumn.

Read the Complete Announcement

Coverage

UK government re-allocates £10 million of science budget to push for open access (via Nature News Blog)
Includes a brief discussion about UK government focus on “gold” open access.
UK government earmarks £10m for open access publishing (via The Guardian)

Filed under: Funding, News, Open Access, Publishing