Today marks the deadline for US federal agencies with $100+ million in R&D expenditures to submit their plans to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) outlining how they will expand public access to the output of the research they fund. The submissions are being made pursuant to the OSTP directive issued February 22, 2013.
In response to the directive, a number of publishing organizations are collaboratively developing the Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the United States (CHORUS), with support from the Association of American Publishers. CHORUS is a public-private partnership for a framework to increase public access to peer-reviewed publications that report on federally-funded research. CHORUS would provide a full solution for agencies to comply with the OSTP memo while building on publishers’ existing, proven infrastructure; avoiding duplication of effort; minimizing taxpayer cost; and ensuring the critical sustainability of the scholarly communication system.
AAP, which stated its support of the OSTP process on February 22, released the following statement today:
“As the OSTP reaches today’s milestone, AAP remains supportive of its work to expand public access to federally-funded research and we look forward to continuing our ongoing involvement in this thoughtful process.
“We are pleased that CHORUS, the public-private partnership framework being developed by publishers to help agencies meet the OSTP directive, is actively evolving. More than 70 organizations representing all segments of scholarly publishing and service providers have joined as signatories. Its Proof of Concept will be released on August 30 and a Pilot will be underway by the end of September. In developing CHORUS, publishers have benefitted from engagement with the agencies, universities and other organizations. AAP believes the CHORUS concept is poised to serve as a true platform for innovation on behalf of all these groups and their interests.
“At a time when the desire to expand public access to knowledge is challenged by economic, technological, operational and other forces, fresh thinking and collaboration are fundamental. The publishing community welcomes renewed opportunities to work with OSTP and all stakeholders in moving these shared goals forward.”
