Press releases
1 October 2003
Wellcome Trust give huge boost to Open Access
The Wellcome Trust today clearly positioned itself in support of open access publishing. This statement, by the UK's leading biomedical research charity, is a significant boost to the fast-growing success of the open access movement.
Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust said in the press release issued by the Trust: "As a funder of research, we are committed to ensuring that the results of the science we fund are disseminated widely and are freely available to all. Unfortunately, the distribution strategies currently used by many publishers prevent this. We want to see a system in place that supports open and unrestricted access to research outputs and we would like to encourage others to support this principle."
According to the position statement, "the Trust is aware that there are a number of new models for the publication of research results and will encourage initiatives that broaden the range of opportunities for quality research to be widely disseminated and freely accessed. The Wellcome Trust therefore supports open and unrestricted access to the published output of research, including the open access model."
This position statement lays out the specific commitments made by the Wellcome Trust, including a promise that it will meet the cost of publication charges for Trust-funded research. The statement also encourages researchers to maximize the opportunities to make their results freely available.
This announcement follows the decision in September by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to cover the cost of article charges for their researchers. With two pre-eminent funding bodies now offering significant support, and promising to cover publication charges, it is clear that open access publishing is set to become the way of the future.
Operating the open access model since 2000, BioMed Central provides a practical demonstration of how open access publishing can successfully meet the needs of the community by giving free access to quality research whilst maintaining an excellent service to authors and readers. In 2003, BioMed Central gained support from the NHS in England and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to cover the cost of publication for researchers from 600 NHS hospitals and all 180 UK universities. The publisher is recording the growing acceptance in the research community - their submission figures topped 7000 manuscripts earlier this month. Jan Velterop, BioMed Central's Publisher, said:
"It is very pleasing that one of the world's pre-eminent funding organizations has decided to embrace the idea of immediate open access to published research. As the publisher of over 100 Open Access journals, BioMed Central has worked relentlessly on finding practical and sustainable ways to publish scientific and medical research with immediate free access for all, and looks forward to increasing support for the idea from funding bodies along the lines now adopted by the Wellcome Trust."
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About BioMed Central:
BioMed Central is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate free access to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science. In addition to open-access original research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and other subscription-based content.
For further information about BioMed Central please contact Grace Baynes (Tel. +44 20 7631 9988) or visit our website).
To read further press releases from BioMed Central visit:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/pressinfo/
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About the Wellcome Trust:
The Wellcome Trust is an independent, research-funding charity, established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome in 1936. The Trust's mission is to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health. Website: www.wellcome.ac.uk
The Wellcome Trust announcement and position statement will be released to the media on 1 October.
Please contact the Wellcome Trust press office for more information about the Wellcome Trust: media.office@wellcome.ac.uk or +44 (0)20 7611 8866.
