"Open Access" to research findings

["James J. O'Donnell" <jod@georgetown.edu>]

> From today's NYTimes, an article about assuring open access to 
research findings -- but framed in a way that has nothing to do 
with publishing, prices, or journals.

Jim O'Donnell
Georgetown U.
_______________________________

June 9, 2006
Inconsistent Information Policies Jeopardize Research, Panel Says
By ANDREW C. REVKIN

WASHINGTON, June 8 - The quality and credibility of government 
research are being jeopardized by inconsistent policies for 
communicating scientific findings to the public, says an 
independent group of scientists that advises Congress and the 
White House.

The group, the National Science Board, examined the issue at the 
request of Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. Mr. McCain 
sought the review in February after Civil Service workers and 
scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
and other agencies complained publicly that political appointees 
had interfered with efforts to discuss global warming and other 
controversial issues.

The board canvassed an array of agencies like the space agency 
and the National Institutes of Health and found a lack of clear, 
consistent guidance to scientists and press offices on releasing 
information to the public and the news media.

In recent months, the board found, NASA and the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration have taken "steps in the right 
direction." But it said other agencies continued to lack 
consistent standards.

Where policies exist, the board said, they are often focused more 
on restricting scientists' ability to discuss their findings than 
on guaranteeing a free flow of information.

The board's review, written as a letter to Mr. McCain, was posted 
last month on the Web site of the National Science Foundation and 
has been noted by several Web publications and trade journals 
focused on science policy.

Asked to comment on the report, a spokesman for the White House 
Office of Science and Technology Policy replied in an e-mail 
message that the office had "discussed the issue of 
communications policy with agency chief scientists shortly after 
the NASA incidents which are cited in the senator's letter, and 
we continue to monitor agency practices."

"We think the NASA response was excellent," the spokesman, 
Benjamin Fallon, wrote, "and have distributed it to the agencies 
as an example of a best practice and have not seen evidence that 
the situation requires the development of a mandatory 
one-size-fits-all policy."

The scientific board acknowledged that agencies were entitled to 
keep track of what their scientists were saying. But it 
recommended that the White House science office develop a common 
set of principles encouraging open communication of science and 
discouraging "the intentional or unintentional suppression or 
distortion of research findings."

The report said that at most agencies policies were out of date, 
unclear or handled in different ways by different field offices. 
Clear guidelines, it added, could reduce confusion.

The lack of uniformity appears to cause other problems, said 
Warren M. Washington, a senior scientist at the National Center 
for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., who is the chairman 
of the science board and the lead author of the report.

"The constant turnover of upper-level staff meant the policies 
were constantly changing depending on who is boss or who the 
midlevel supervisor was," Mr. Washington said in an interview.

Mr. McCain, a senior member of the Committee on Commerce, Science 
and Transportation, inserted an amendment into a bill last month 
reflecting the science board's findings. The amendment calls for 
the White House science office to create a "set of principles" 
encouraging the "open exchange of data and results of research by 
federal agency scientists."

The bill has not been sent to the Senate floor for a vote.

copyright 2006 The New York Times