Throwing its weight behind open access, the British government has declared it wants to make all research paid for with public money freely available online. If it succeeds, the move is likely to have significant consequences for publishers and will boost the international momentum of the open-access movement.
David Willetts (pictured), Britain’s minister for universities and science, made the announcement today at the general meeting of the U.K. Publishers Association in London.
“Giving people the right to roam freely over publicly funded research will usher in a new era of academic discovery and collaboration, and will put the U.K. at the forefront of open research,” Willetts wrote. “The challenge is how we get there without ruining the value added by academic publishers.”