Library News for the Faculty

Scholarly Communications Update: Pending Federal Legislation Affecting Dissemination of Faculty Scholarship

The bipartisan Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 would require U.S. government agencies with annual extramural research expenditures of more than one hundred million dollars to make manuscripts of peer-reviewed journal articles stemming from agency-funded research freely accessible via the Internet. The manuscripts would be freely available within six months after publication and would be maintained and preserved in a digital archive maintained by the agency or in another repository that permits free public access and long-term preservation.

This legislation would mean enhanced access to federally funded research articles for researchers and students at UCLA and would expand the worldwide visibility of the research conducted at UCLA, increase the impact of campus investment in this research, and aid researchers in examining related work at other institutions that compete for government grants and contracts.

Leading academic officers of more than fifty universities, including Rory Hume, UC executive vice president and provost, have voiced support for the act because of its essential role in helping to broaden dissemination of the result of faculty research. It is also supported by national organizations of academic libraries, including the American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries, Association of College and Research Libraries, Association of Research Libraries, Greater Western Library Alliance, Medical Library Association, Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), and Special Libraries Association.

The legislation would affect non-classified research from investigators funded by the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and Transportation; Environmental Protection Agency; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and National Science Foundation.

The bill contains provisions to protect journals and the peer-review process. Also, it would not affect materials other than peer-reviewed articles, such as laboratory notes, preliminary data analyses, author notes, phone logs, or other information used for the final manuscript; classified research, research that results in works that generate revenue or royalties for the author such as books, or patentable discoveries to the extent necessary to protect copyright or a patent; book chapters, editorials, reviews, or conference proceedings; or works that are not accepted for journal publication.

Furthermore, the legislation explicitly recognizes and upholds the principles of copyright and patent law. As part of the granting or contracting process, the funding agency will secure a non-exclusive license to disseminate the manuscript, but this has no impact on copyright or patent rights.

The Library will update faculty as the bill moves through the legislative process. Updates are also available on the SPARC Web site.