From: Richard Poynder <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:49:06 +0100

The House of Lords Science & Technology Committee has today published
its report on implementation of the UK government’s Open Access
policy.

Commenting, Lord Krebs, Chairman of the House of Lords Science and
Technology Committee, said:

“RCUK did not consult or communicate effectively with key stakeholders
in the publishing and academic communities when implementing its open
access policy. While we are delighted that our inquiry has shown that
RCUK are proposing to phase in their open access policy during the
initial five-year implementation phase, this should have been made
clear much earlier. That is why we call upon the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills to review how RCUK communicated this
important change.

“There are still many unknowns concerning the impact of the open
access policy, which is why RCUK must commit to a wide rangeing review
of its policy in 2014, 2016 and before it expects full compliance in
2018. We heard significant concern about the policy’s
‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, and are pleased that RCUK are both aware
of these concerns and prepared to act on them.

“Open access is an inexorable trend. The Government must ensure that
in further developing our capabilities to share research they do not
inadvertently damage the ‘complex ecosystem’ of research communication
in the UK.”

The report is available here: http://ow.ly/hWw0f

RCUK’s response is here: http://ow.ly/hWwaE

Times Higher news story here: http://ow.ly/hWxbT

A background piece here: http://j.mp/11XPsoX

Richard Poynder