AMERICANS SUPPORT FREE ACCESS TO RESEARCH

[Ray English <Ray.English@oberlin.edu>]

For Immediate Release
May 31, 2006

Contact:
Jennifer Heffelfinger
jennifer@arl.org
(202) 202-296-2296 x121

AMERICANS SUPPORT FREE ACCESS TO RESEARCH

Poll Results Show Overwhelming Majority Believes

Federally Funded Research Should be Publicly Available

Washington, DC - May 31, 2006 - In an online survey of public 
attitudes conducted recently and released today by Harris 
Interactive(r), 8 out of 10 (82%) adults polled said they believe 
that "if tax dollars pay for scientific research, people should 
have free access to the results of the research on the Internet."

In addition, six out of 10 (62%) adults believe that if these 
research results are easily available (for free and online), it 
will help speed up finding potential cures for diseases.

These findings from the Harris Poll, one of the longest running 
independent opinion polls in the United States, underscore broad 
agreement among diverse sectors of the American public on the 
benefits of free access to research. The original survey findings 
are available at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/.

"This expression of support from the American public demonstrates 
that the demand for public access has reached a critical 
juncture," said Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC 
(Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, an ATA 
founding member). "As scientists work to counter the Avian flu, 
develop energy alternatives, and grapple with climate change, 
public access to taxpayer-funded research is more important than 
ever. The public recognizes its stake in open sharing of 
research, and the Harris data gives voice to their stand."

"The poll results show that research must be a collaborative, 
informed process between investigators and the public to be 
successful and increase trust," said Robert Reinhard, community 
advisor to NIH's AIDS vaccine trials. "Time and again the lesson 
is that improved knowledge in the community furthers the public 
health agenda." In another strong signal of broad support for 
public access, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman 
(D-CT) recently introduced the Federal Research Public Access Act 
of 2006 (S.2695).  The bill requires federal agencies that fund 
over $100 million in annual external research to make electronic 
manuscripts of peer-reviewed journal articles stemming from their 
research publicly available via the Internet.  ATA supports this 
measure and provides information and materials related to the 
legislation at http://www.taxpayeraccess.org.

###

Charts representing the poll data are available to download at 
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org.

ATA members include the Genetic Alliance, Parent Project Muscular 
Dystrophy, the Christopher Reeve Foundation, and 67 other 
patient, academic, research, and publishing entities that support 
expanded access to the results of federally funded research. The 
Alliance was formed in 2004 specifically to urge that 
peer-reviewed articles on taxpayer-funded research become fully 
accessible and available online at no extra cost to the American 
public. Details on the Alliance for Taxpayer Access may be found 
at http://www.taxpayeraccess.org.

-------------------------------------
Jennifer Heffelfinger
Communications Manager
SPARC
jennifer@arl.org
(202) 296-2296 x121
Fax: (202) 872-0884
www.arl.org/sparc