The UK government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) recently released a report – titled 'Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth' - stating that all scientific research funded by British taxpayers will be made available online free of charge. The website, to be called 'Gateway to Research', will eventually incorporate research funded by other bodies, under the government's plan.
It has been observed that much of the high-energy physics research community currently uses a system of open access online publishing. The arxiv.org website, an online repository set up in 1991, offers almost all high-energy physics research for free. Despite this, established physics journals have reported no decrease in subscriptions.
Janet Finch, former vice-chair of Keele University, UK, has been assigned the responsibility to investigate how the UK might set up something similar for all its taxpayer-funded science. She is expected to report in the first half of 2012 but, meanwhile, the UK Research Councils will be reminded that research papers from the work they fund should be made as widely available as possible.
The announcement is reportedly part of a growing trend towards open access, following the success of the free journals PLoS One and Nature Scientific Reports.
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