U.S. Congress: “FASTR Legislation Would Ensure Permanency of Public Access to Scientific Research”

From SPARC:

 SPARC, an international alliance of academic and research libraries working to create a more open system of scholarly communication, today [July 26] applauded the introduction of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act, which would ensure that public access to research articles becomes the law of the land.
FASTR calls for federal agencies with extramural research budgets in excess of $100 million to establish consistent, permanent public access policies for articles reporting on their funded research.  This means that articles reporting on the results of taxpayer-funded research would be made available to the general public to freely access and fully use.  FASTR would codify the February 22, 2013 White House Directive to provide greater public access to taxpayer-funded research.
“Passing FASTR will ensure a stable path for greater innovation and economic and job growth by opening up access to publicly funded research, once and for all,” said Heather Joseph, Executive Director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).  “Although numerous federal agencies have released their plans, it is crucial that we make open access to taxpayer-funded research the law of the land. We’re grateful to Representatives Doyle, Lofgren, and Yoder for their steadfast support of this bipartisan legislation.”
FASTR was introduced today in the House of Representatives by Kevin Yoder (R-KS-3), Mike Doyle (D-PA-14), and Zoe Lofgren (D- CA-19).
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FASTR was first introduced in the 113th Congress.  In July 215, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee unanimously passed S. 779 by voice vote.
You can learn more by visiting SPARC’s FASTR homepage.

Learn More About the Bill + Background, Read the Complete Blog Post
UPDATES
Track the Bill : Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act (H.R. 3427)
“To provide for Federal agencies to develop public access policies relating to research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds administered by that agency”

• via Congress.gov

• via GovTrack.us

Read a Copy of the Bill (via Doyle.house.gov)
See Also: News Release From Bill Sponsor, Rep. Mike Doyle (R-PA)

Specifically, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act would:
• Require federal departments and agencies with an annual extramural research budget of $100 million or more, whether funded totally or partially by a government

department or agency, to submit an electronic copy of the final manuscript that has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Ensure that the manuscript is preserved in a stable digital repository maintained by that agency or in another suitable repository that permits free public access, interoperability, and long-term preservation.
• Require that each taxpayer-funded manuscript be made available to the public online and without cost, no later than six months after the article has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Require agencies to examine whether introducing open licensing options for research papers they make publicly available as a result of the public access policy would promote productive reuse and computational analysis of those research papers.

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Funding, Journal Articles, Libraries, News, Open Access, Preservation, Publishing