Senator Revising Proposed Research Release Mandate

CHAMPAIGN — A state senator who has proposed making the results of publicly funded research more widely available is amending his legislation after receiving pushback from some in academia.

As currently written, the Open Access to Research Articles Act, introduced earlier this spring by state Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, requires state colleges and universities to establish policies that would require faculty to make available online, for free, their research articles.

Last week, Biss told The News-Gazette that he is working on an amendment to the bill which he believes will address concerns raised by faculty and others at the University of Illinois and other state universities.

Taxpayers fund billions of dollars of research through agencies such as the National Science Foundation, and in recent years the movement to make the results of that publicly funded research more widely available has gained momentum. Last year, petitions calling for more open access were submitted to the White House. [...]