Article about the Forum: Stanford responds to looming open-access directive

In February of this year, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published a memo directing federal science agencies “to develop plans to make the published results of federally funded research freely available to the public within one year of publication … Such results include peer-reviewed publications and digital data.” Funding agency responses to this directive could dramatically change the process of scientific information exchange and fundamentally alter how scientific research is performed and archived at US universities and government laboratories. Each agency has been directed to submit a draft plan by August 22, 2013. We feel strongly that university faculty should be aware of the preliminary proposals that have been developed by the funding agencies and the potential impact these policy changes will have on the university research community, including faculty, librarians, staff, and students.

We are organizing a one day workshop at Stanford University on Thursday, June 27, 2013, where major stakeholders will present their perspectives on these impending policy changes. We are inviting speakers from scientific society and commercial publishers, university libraries, university researchers, open access advocates, companies involved in assembling large databases, and government agencies. A preliminary agenda and registration information is available here. We are extending special invitations to faculty from Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco. We hope you will find time to attend the forum on this important topic. The meeting is free, but you must pre-register. The forum agenda, directions to the center and registration information may be found here.

The Future of Scientific Publishing:
Open Access to Manuscripts and Big Data
June 27, 2013
Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge
Stanford University

Sponsors:
Stanford University Dean of Research Office
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford University School of Engineering
American Physical Society
Stanford Photonics Research Center

Confirmed Speakers:
Stephen Abrams, Associate Director of UC3, California Digital Library
Michael Eisen, Co-Founder, PLOS
Dan Morgan, Director of Universal Access, Elsevier
Elizabeth Nolan, Deputy Executive Director/Chief Publishing Officer, Optical Society of America
Joe Serene, Treasure/Publisher, American Physical Society
Michael Turner, President, American Physical Society
Victoria Stodden, Assistant Professor of Statistics, Columbia University