The Research Councils UK Executive Group, the grouping of the eight chief executives of the UK Research Councils, has today published its updated position statement on access to research outputs. It has also developed plans to assess the impact of author-pays publishing and self-archiving on research publishing. This will report in 2008 when the RCUK position will be reviewed.
The paper reaffirms the Research Councils' commitment to the guiding principles that publicly funded research must be made available and accessible for public examination as rapidly as practical; published research outputs should be effectively peer-reviewed; this must be a cost effective use of public funds; and outputs must be preserved and remain accessible for future generations.
In recognition of the diverse research communities served by each Research Council individual Councils will publish guidelines for their communities on access to research outputs in each field. This will ensure that each discipline is best able to respond in ways aligned to their needs. Initial guidance has been published today on Research Council websites.
The RCUK Executive Group has also reaffirmed its long standing commitment that academic authors choose where to publish their research. RCUK Executive Group has made no judgement as to the most appropriate publishing model. The Research Councils will, as appropriate for their communities, provide guidance on the placement of outputs of research in subject depositories.
- ends -
Contact
Alun Roberts, Research Councils UK
Tel: 01793 444474
Notes to Editors
The principles that underpin the position paper and which are endorsed by the RCUK Executive Group state that:
-
Ideas and knowledge derived from publicly-funded research must be made available and accessible for public use, interrogation and scrutiny, as widely, rapidly and effectively as practicable.
-
Published research outputs must be subject to rigorous quality assurance, through effective peer review mechanisms.
-
The models and mechanisms for publication and access to research results must be both efficient and cost-effective in the use of public funds.
-
The outputs from current and future research must be preserved and remain accessible for future generations.
About Research Councils UK
The eight Research Councils are independent non-departmental public bodies, funded by the Science Budget through the Office of Science and Innovation. They are incorporated by Royal Charter and together manage a research budget of over £2.5 billion a year.
Research Councils UK (RCUK) is the partnership between the Research Councils. Through RCUK, the Research Councils work together to champion the research, training and innovation they support.
RCUK was created to increase the collective visibility, leadership and policy influence of the Research Councils; to stimulate multi-disciplinary research that encourages collaboration; to provide a single focus for collective dialogue with stakeholders and to encourage greater harmonisation of internal operations.
The partnership is led by the RCUK Executive Group, which meets monthly and comprises the chief executives of the eight Research Councils. The Group is currently chaired by Professor Ian Diamond, Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council.
The eight UK Research Councils are:
- Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC);
- Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC);
- Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC);
- Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC);
- Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC);
- Medical Research Council (MRC);
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC);
- Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council (PPARC).