Voters Overwhelmingly Support Open Access to Federally Funded Research
By Bella Kumar
U.S. taxpayers spend more than $80 billion annually to fund basic and applied research; however, paywalls often prevent taxpayers from accessing the results of the research they fund. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of making federally funded research publicly accessible without delay or additional cost.
The pandemic brought together researchers from across the country and globe to build open systems for research collaboration that have been key to our pandemic response, including the fastest development of a vaccine in human history. As part of the pandemic response in March 2020, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) called on for-profit publishers to lift their normal 12-month embargo on journal articles for coronavirus-related research.
On August 25, 2022, OSTP updated U.S. policy guidance to make the results of taxpayer-supported research immediately available to the American public at no cost. In a memorandum to federal departments and agencies, Dr. Alondra Nelson, the head of OSTP, delivered guidance for agencies to update their public access policies as soon as possible to make publications and research funded by taxpayers publicly accessible, without an embargo or cost. All agencies will fully implement updated policies, including ending the optional 12-month embargo, no later than December 31, 2025.
New polling from Data for Progress shows that a majority of voters (83 percent) agree that federally funded research should be freely available for taxpayers to read and access. This includes 86 percent of Democrats, 80 percent of Independents, and 82 percent of Republicans.
After being informed that many publishers require people to pay fees to access online journals and other published federally funded research, 79 percent of voters believe that publishers should not charge for access to this research and that taxpayers should have immediate, free, and easy access to the research they fund. This includes 78 percent of Democrats, 77 percent of Independents, and 81 percent of Republicans. Twelve percent of voters believe that publishers should continue to charge for access to publicly funded research because publishing is a business and charging for access is how publishers make money.
Voters also support the White House’s new guidance to federal agencies instructing that they must make research papers that describe taxpayer-funded work freely available to the public as soon as they are published by a +78-point margin. This includes Democrats by a +84-point margin, Independents by a +77-point margin, and Republicans by a +75-point margin.
The coronavirus crisis has taught us that research articles being locked behind paywalls and data stuck in silos is not sustainable. Congress must follow this guidance and vote to end delays and accessibility issues by making all taxpayer-funded research articles immediately open to all. American lives depend on it.
Bella Kumar (@bellakkumar) is a communications intern at Data for Progress.