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Students from Imperial’s Science Communication Forum report on open access to scientific research.

On 27 September Imperial’s Science Communication Forum organised a discussion on open access to scientific research. Alex Anderson and Anna Zecharia who helped organise the event describe the occasion. 

Open access (OA) is a hot topic this year. The release of the  in June prompted the government, the Higher Education Funding Council for England () and Research Councils UK () to respond with new OA policies, meaning that from April 2013 all publicly funded research will be published in OA journals.

To find out what this will mean for staff and ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ at Imperial, we asked Nature’s Assistant news editor, Richard Van Noorden to chair a discussion between Mark Thorley from Natural Environment Research Council (),representatives from RCUK and Imperial’s Professor Stephen Curry (Life Sciences).

Mark talked us through RCUK policy, assuring us they are putting ‘their money where their mouth is’ by providing block funding. Stephen queried ‘what happens when the pot runs out?’ and Richard opened up the floor for questions. What followed was a frank and rigorous discussion between over 100 attendees from HEFCE, The Wellcome Trust, Imperial College Library, , open access commentators and academics, although according to Mark ‘it felt more like a grilling!’.

Key discussion points included the stated preference for Gold OA (where authors pay a fee to publish in journals that provide immediate open access to all their online content) how institutions will implement the policy and the role of repositories (online facilities for collecting and disseminating research output). Mark tells us the event was useful to clarify the policy and identify which areas need further explanation.”

Listen to the event