Petition to expand NIH Public Access Policy

The KDA received the following request from Sharon F. Terry, President and CEO, of Genetic Alliance. I signed the petition because this has been something that has bothered me for some time. Read Ms. Terry’s letter and the petition (also shown below) and please consider adding your support to it. Thank you.

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Dear friends,


Through the groundswell of our network, we've opened up access to the results of federally funded NIH research – let's take that another step!


As you know, the Obama Administration has been actively considering the issue of Public Access to the results of Federally Funded research this year. We have a brief, critical window of opportunity to demonstrate our strong commitment to expanding the NIH Public Access Policy across all U.S. Federal Science Agencies. The Administration is currently considering which policy actions are priorities that will they will act on before the 2012 Presidential Election season swings into high gear, an we need to ensure that Public Access is one of those priorities.


To help accomplish this, today, Monday, May 21st, a petition calling for Public Access to Federally Funded Research has been posted to the White House's "We the People" site.  When the petition garners 25,000 signatures within 30 days, it will be reviewed by White House staff, and considered for action.
To reach this number of signatures, we need you sign the petition at wh.gov/6TH and to do all that you can to activate your networks to do the same.  Qualified signers must be at least 13 years old, have a valid email address, and can come from inside or outside of the U.S. 


We are asking you to please not only sign onto the petition, but to spread the word far and wide. Consider a blog post, an email to constituencies, a tweet, a Facebook share, an action in your library  - anything that tells as many people as possible "I support this petition, I'm signing this petition, and I you to sign it also."  This is the kind of action that will have real consequences when we reach the 25,000 signatures goal - the White House takes this petition site very seriously, and is particularly cognizant of public opinion as the Presidential election draws closer.


Thanks in advance for your support for this effort - together we can expand the NIH Public Access Policy to all US Federal Science Agencies! 

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The petition reads:


WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:


Require free access over the Internet to scientific journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research.


We believe in the power of the Internet to foster innovation, research, and education. Requiring the published results of taxpayer-funded research to be posted on the Internet in human and machine readable form would provide access to patients and caregivers, students and their teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other taxpayers who paid for the research. Expanding access would speed the research process and increase the return on our investment in scientific research.


The highly successful Public Access Policy of the National Institutes of Health proves that this can be done without disrupting the research process, and we urge President Obama to act now to implement open access policies for all federal agencies that fund scientific research.
We the People … Full URL to the petition: https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/%21/petition/require-free-access-over-internet-scientific-journal-articles-arising-taxpayer-funded-research/