The US federal agencies with over $100 million in R&D expenditures were required to submit their plans by August 22, 2013 to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) outlining how they will expand public access to the output of the research they fund. The submissions are being made pursuant to the OSTP directive issued February 22, 2013.
In response to the directive, a number of publishing organisations are collaboratively developing the Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the United States (CHORUS), with support from the Association of American Publishers. CHORUS is a public-private partnership for a framework to increase public access to peer-reviewed publications that report on federally-funded research. CHORUS would provide a full solution for agencies to comply with the OSTP memo while building on publishers' existing, proven infrastructure; avoiding duplication of effort; minimising taxpayer cost; and ensuring the critical sustainability of the scholarly communication system.
AAP, which stated its support of the OSTP process on February 22, has released a statement according to which AAP remains supportive of its work to expand public access to federally-funded research and looks forward to continuing its ongoing involvement in this thoughtful process.
The statement further notes, CHORUS, the public-private partnership framework being developed by publishers to help agencies meet the OSTP directive, is actively evolving. More than 70 organisations representing all segments of scholarly publishing and service providers have joined as signatories. Its Proof of Concept will be released on August 30 and a Pilot will be underway by the end of September. In developing CHORUS, publishers have benefitted from engagement with the agencies, universities and other organisations. AAP believes the CHORUS concept is poised to serve as a true platform for innovation on behalf of all these groups and their interests.
