[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 22 (Thursday, February 9, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E174]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS ACT

                                  _____
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL F. DOYLE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 9, 2012

  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity this morning to 
talk to you about bipartisan legislation I've just introduced: the 
Federal Research Public Access Act.
  When a federally-funded researcher writes a paper, too often that 
paper gets locked away behind a ``pay-wall'' and anyone who wants to 
learn from that federally-funded research has to pay exorbitant 
subscription or one-time fees.
  Our nation benefits when scientists are able to share their research 
and collaborate--sometimes across different fields of study.
  The public benefits when it's able to learn about a rare disease 
whose only discussion is in a scientific paper. Or when science 
students are able to access and draw from a broad array of work by 
other scientists to enhance their research.
  Other major funders of scientific research--especially in health--
such as the U.K. government or private foundations are increasingly 
requiring the papers they fund to be available to the public.
  Some universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, 
and the University of Kansas require papers written by their professors 
to be made available to the public.
  In 2008, the Appropriations Committee expanded the public access 
policy requirements of the National Institutes of Health. The NIH has 
since implemented an online public access system called PubMed, which 
has gotten tremendous support from the scientific community.
  I believe we'd all benefit from greater access to cutting edge 
research, but several specific groups would probably benefit most: 
Scientists, whose research will be more broadly read; Scholars, who 
will have fewer barriers to obtaining the research they need and whose 
research will also be more broadly read; Funders, who will gain from 
accelerated discovery, facilitation of interdisciplinary research 
methodologies, preservation of vital research findings, and an improved 
capacity to manage their research portfolios; and Taxpayers, who will 
obtain economic and social benefits from the leveraging of their 
investment in scientific research through effects such as enhanced 
technology transfer, broader application of research to health care, 
and more informed policy development.
  It's not hard to think of the high school student who wants to major 
in medicine or science digging around the database looking for ideas.
  Nor is it hard to foresee investigators looking at research in other 
disciplines to get ideas they can apply to their own field.
  Or a college student at an undergraduate institution getting access 
to a journal their college has never been able to purchase.
  Or a researcher's publication getting cited more often in other 
studies because it's easier to find and its reach extended past its 
original journal's readers.
  That's why I've introduced the Federal Research Public Access Act, 
which would require federal agencies with annual extramural research 
budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with online 
access to research manuscripts stemming from federally funded research 
no later than six months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
  My legislation is a bipartisan effort, and I thank my colleagues, 
Congressman Kevin Yoder of Kansas and Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay of 
Missouri for joining me to express their strong support for public 
access to federal research. I'm also pleased to note that my colleagues 
in the United States Senate have also introduced identical, bipartisan 
legislation.
  I've been working on this issue since the 2006 debate on the 
reauthorization of the National Institutes of Heath. I'm pleased to 
note that since 2006, the NIH has implemented a public access policy. 
But it still only applies to the NIH, while research funded by other 
federal agencies remains difficult or expensive to access.
  In 2009, the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy, 
OSTP, expressed interest in public access policies and issued a request 
for public comment on mechanisms that would leverage federal 
investments in scientific research and increase access to information 
that promises to stimulate scientific and technological innovation and 
competitiveness. In recent months, the OSTP continued this process by 
collecting a second round of public comments to inform its development 
of public access policies for federal agencies.
  My bill would give the OSTP Congressional direction to assist it in 
crafting public access policies. I want OSTP to write the strongest, 
best rule possible. But even they need help and this legislation will 
provide them with guidance.
  I believe that this bipartisan bill strikes a good balance among the 
needs of scientists, the rights of taxpayers, and the financial 
interests of companies that have historically published this research 
in peer-reviewed, usually expensive subscription publications. The bill 
gives publishers an exclusive six-month period in which the information 
will be available to subscribers, and it allows them to continue to 
market the additional value they add to these manuscripts when they 
publish them.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that we can move this bill through Congress 
before the end of the year.

                          ____________________