From: David Prosser <[log in to unmask]> Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:00:56 +0000 The UK Government has just published its Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth, outlining how it will support research and development through the UK's universities: http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/innovation/docs/i/11-1387-innovation-and-research-strategy-for-growth.pdf Of particular interest to readers of this list will be section 6.6 onwards which deal with access to research outputs. To quote: "The Government, in line with our overarching commitment to transparency and open data, is committed to ensuring that publicly-funded research should be accessible free of charge. Free and open access to taxpayer-funded research offers significant social and economic benefits by spreading knowledge, raising the prestige of UK research and encouraging technology transfer. At the moment, such research is often difficult to find and expensive to access. This can defeat the original purpose of taxpayer-funded academic research and limits understanding and innovation. ... But we need to go much further if, as a nation, we are to gain the full potential benefits of publicly-funded research." Taken together with the UK's Science Minister's recent interview in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/dec/08/publicly-funded-research-open-access this signifies the strongest commitment to open access we have seen from the UK Government. David