David Willetts

See the following -

Dove Medical Press Welcomes UK Government Decision To Boost Funding For Open Access To £10 Million

Press Release | Dove Medical Press Ltd | November 9, 2012

Dove Medical Press welcomes the recently announced decision of the UK government to support open access with a £10 million funding boost by Universities and Science Minister David Willetts. Read More »

Elsevier: Bumps On Road To Open Access

Paul Jump | Times Higher Education | March 27, 2014

An academic is asking researchers and librarians to send him more examples of cases where open access article fees have been paid to the publisher Elsevier but the article in question remains behind a paywall.  The call has been made by Peter Murray-Rust, reader in molecular informatics at the University of Cambridge, after Elsevier admitted it had charged some people to reuse articles published with open licences.

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Free Access to British Scientific Research within Two Years

Ian Sample | The Guardian | July 15, 2012

The government is to unveil controversial plans to make publicly funded scientific research immediately available for anyone to read for free by 2014, in the most radical shakeup of academic publishing since the invention of the internet. Read More »

Imperial Debate: Light And Heat On The RCUK Open Access Policy

Stephen Curry | Reciprocal Space | October 11, 2012

It is two weeks since the meeting organised by the Imperial College Science Communication Forum to discuss the new open access policy announced by Research Councils UK (RCUK) in the light of the Finch Report. Read More »

Review Of Open Access In Economics

Ross Mounce | Open Knowledge Foundation | October 30, 2012

Ever since BioMed Central (BMC) published its first free online article on July 19th 2000, the Open Access movement has made significant progress, so much so that many different stakeholders now see 100% Open Access to research as inevitable in the near future. Read More »

That Was The Open Access Week That Was

Stephen Curry | Reciprocal Space | November 5, 2012

A round-up of some of the issues that got an airing during Open Access (OA) Week and in the days that followed, including more rumination on the implementation and implications of the RCUK OA policy, more bad (and some good) publisher behaviour, ideas for new directions in OA publishing and, finally, an important African perspective on the rumbling debate. Read More »

The Future Of Scientific Publishing: Let's Make Sure It's Fair As Well As Transparent

Scientific publishing has undergone a revolution in recent years – largely due to the internet. And it shows no sign of letting up as a growing number of countries attempt to ensure that research papers are made freely available. Publishers are struggling to adapt their business models to the new challenges. But it is not just the publishers who struggle. Peer-reviewed publications are extremely important for academics, who use them to communicate their latest research findings. When it comes to making decisions about hiring and promotion, universities often use an academic’s publication record. However, the use of publication consultants and increasingly long lists of authors in certain disciplines are changing the game. So where will it all end?

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UK Government Earmarks £10m For Open Access Publishing [UK]

Geraint Jones | The Guardian | September 7, 2012

The money for scientists to publish their research in open access journals will come out of the existing science budget Read More »

UK Government Will Enforce Open Access to Development Research

Alok Jha | The Guardian | July 25, 2012

The results of scientific research that tackles disease, food security issues and poverty in the developing world will become freely available as part of the government's plans to open up access to publicly funded studies. Read More »

UK House Of Commons Select Committee Publishes Report Criticising RCUK’s Open Access Policy

Richard Poynder | Open and Shut? | September 10, 2013

The House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Committee has today published a critical report on the Open Access (OA) policy introduced on April 1st by Research Councils UK (RCUK). Read More »

UK Research Funders Announce Grants For Open-Access Publishing

Richard Van Noorden | Nature | November 8, 2012

The United Kingdom’s research-funding agencies will together spend more than £100 million (US$159 million) over the next five years to help pay for taxpayer-funded research papers to be free to read, they announced today. Read More »

When Publishers Attack: Elsevier And The Open Access Research Dilemma

Paul St John Mackintosh | TeleRead | December 9, 2013

It’s no secret that academic publisher Reed Elsevier is facing financial and structural challenges from European Union and other regulatory challenges to its business model, from officials anxious to make sure that publicly-funded research gets to be public... Read More »

Wikipedia Founder to Help in [UK] Government's Research Scheme

Alok Jha | The Guardian | May 1, 2012

The [UK] government has drafted in the Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to help make all taxpayer-funded academic research in Britain available online to anyone who wants to read or use it. The initiative, which has the backing of No 10 and should be up and running in two years, will be announced by the universities and science minister, David Willetts, in a speech to the Publishers Association on Wednesday.
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Willetts 'Should Have Done Open-Access Homework'

Paul Jump | Times Higher Education (THE) | February 14, 2013

Ministers should avoid making policy "on the basis of their summer reading lists", a senior sector figure has cautioned. Read More »