SPARC Praises on VP Biden’s Call for Open Access and Open Data for Cancer Research

UPDATE: Vice President Biden’s speech can be viewed here. His remarks begin at about 17:45 in the video after remarks from Dr. Jill Biden.
From SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition):

SPARC, a global coalition committed to making Open the default for research and education, today applauded Vice President Joe Biden’s call for Open Access, Open Data, and new incentives for cancer research.
In a speech to the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), Vice President Biden laid out a series of policy priorities designed to speed up the development of new cancer treatments and cures, and specifically called for a complete overhaul of the current incentive structure for cancer research to one that is much more closely aligned with the interests of patients.

Comments by Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC.

“SPARC strongly supports Vice President Biden’s call for taking down barriers to sharing research results in science, including incentivizing fast, open sharing of data, and open access to research articles.”
“In his remarks, the Vice President addressed the need for making open access the norm in cancer research, and also rewarding researchers for making their papers openly available. He focused particular attention on the need to make data supporting the published results of research immediately openly accessible, so that results can be reproduced and validated. And he suggested that the government should both reward the validation of scientific studies and make it much easier for researchers to apply for funding specifically to replicate and verify others’ results.”
“SPARC, our members, and our colleagues in the global Open Access community are committed to redoubling our efforts, and working with the White House to achieve the goals of the Cancer Moonshot. We’re giving the Vice President a standing ovation for his courage, his leadership, and his willingness to speak out so clearly and so eloquently on the need to cut to the chase, and knock down the barriers to scientific progress once and for all.”
“But, we are also committed to continuing to ask the larger question: If these practices are so essential to achieving progress in cancer research, why not apply them to all other areas of research to fully unlock the power of our collective investment in scientific research, and make huge strides in improving the public good? It’s within our grasp to do so. And taking the steps that the Vice President has outlined and making them an integral part of a larger Open Science agenda across the United States is a goal worth fighting for.”

See Also: Additional Comments and Background in this Blog Post by Heather Joseph
 

Filed under: Data Files, Funding, Journal Articles, Management and Leadership, News, Open Access, Publishing