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41 news posts in Open science policy

Photo credit: Frontiers

Open science policy

09 Aug 2023

Open access research publisher Frontiers welcomes a bipartisan bill to expand access to artificial intelligence research in the US 

The bipartisan CREATE AI Act aims to overcome the access divide and see the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence properly weighed for all Americans.  Photo credit: Frontiers In July 2023, US Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) introduced the CREATE AI Act (the Creating Resources for Every American To Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act). U.S. Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Don Beyer (D-Va.), and Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives. Frontiers welcomes the move. It shows foresight, creativity, and the chance to properly weigh the risks and benefits of AI for all. The bill proposes new national infrastructure for the US that gives researchers, academics, startups, and students from diverse backgrounds much-needed access to the computing power, resources, data, and tools needed to develop safe and trustworthy artificial intelligence. The principle of open access to these resources – and the ambition to expand research on this cutting-edge technology to the best and brightest minds in the US – chimes loudly with our mission as an Open Science research publisher. At Frontiers, we want to see all science open – so that we can […]

Open science policy

02 Feb 2023

Writing the future: The aspirations of early career researchers

Personal reflections on a symposium. On 9 January, Dr Anke Beck, head of European public affairs and advocacy at Frontiers, helped chair a symposium for early career researchers at the Association of Publishing in Europe annual conference. Photo credit: Frontiers There is a profound cultural change underway that will transform the way science is funded, shared, and published – and thereby the impact new knowledge has on society. Open Science, backed by broader calls for diversity and inclusion, is now a strong and growing focus for governments, funders, institutions, and authors. And of course, it is finding voice and resonance with early career researchers (ECRs), whose values and beliefs on inclusion, transparency, and trust will drive this scientific debate. In that context, at the start of the year I had the pleasure of helping to coordinate an intense and energizing symposium with ECRs. The Berlin Institute of Scholarly Publishing under the auspices of the 18th Academic Publishing Conference and the Quest Center for Responsible Research brought together researchers, publishers and platforms to listen, exchange views, and hack through new ideas, in person and online. Over forty-eight hours, with 105 participants across 10 time zones in Western and Eastern Europe, North America, […]

Open science policy

08 Dec 2022

Collective knowledge, consensus for action

On 7 December 2022, Stephan Kuster, head of public affairs at Frontiers, gave a speech at our reception in the World Science Forum, the international conference on global science policy hosted this year by the Republic of South Africa. Good evening. It’s great to see you all here. My name is Stephan Kuster, I am head of public affairs at Frontiers. We are delighted to support the Forum here in Cape Town. As you many of you may know, Frontiers is a leading research publisher and open science platform. It is the third most-cited and sixth largest in the world. The science we publish is globally shared, free to read and open to all. Our mission at Frontiers is clear and simply put. We want to make all science open – so that we can collaborate better and innovate faster, for fairer outcomes in all parts of society. That’s our social purpose as a business. The World Science Form team has done a fantastic job bringing us all together to consider the influence and responsibilities of science. The scientific community has more than met those responsibilities in recent years, not least in its collective response to the pandemic. Can that […]

Open science policy

13 Sep 2022

Unlocking US science for healthy lives on a healthy planet

Frontiers Briefing Note OSTP Guidance to Make Federally Funded Research Freely Available without Delay Introduction On 25 August 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) unveiled vital new policy guidance to make the results of federally funded scientific research in the United States immediately free to access and available to all. We strongly backed that guidance and we outline here our thoughts on implementation. Frontiers is a leading research publisher, the 3rd most-cited and 6th largest in the world. We publish ground-breaking discoveries by the world’s top experts. We are fully Open Access (OA) and have been since our inception in 2007. The research we publish is fully and immediately available, without embargo. We have a global footprint and in the US are growing. 46,000 American scientists serve on our editorial boards, and we have published over 90,000 papers by US researchers. We bring full and immediate access to high-impact, peer-reviewed science in an economically viable model that is scalable. And we seek to share our experience of publishing fully OA journals to help shape the best public policy outcomes. We stand ready to support partners – such as libraries and societies – in the vanguard of the vital transition described by […]

Open science policy

29 Aug 2022

White House announces new policy to drop paywalls around publicly funded research

On 25 August 2022, the White House unveiled a new policy to end the paywalls surrounding federally funded scientific research in the United States. The Office of Science and Technology Policy announced ground-breaking new guidance to remove any “delay or barrier between the American public and the returns on their investments in research.” When implemented, it will make the results of taxpayer-supported research immediately available to the public at no cost. Citing the need to realize and access the ground-breaking possibilities created by taxpayer-funded research, Dr Alondra Nelson said the “American people fund tens of billions of dollars of cutting-edge research annually” and that this research, when widely available, “can drive more equitable outcomes across every sector of society.” Kamila Markram, co-founder and chief executive officer of Frontiers, the open access research publisher, said: “Enormous progress has been made in our collective efforts to extend the benefits of publicly funded research to all of society, and this announcement ought to be a tipping point. The Covid emergency taught us that open science drives innovation and saves lives. “As we face down global, existential threats, not least climate change, open science without paywalls will accelerate collaboration and improve our chances of […]

Open science policy

15 Jul 2022

Open science to meet the public’s appetite for accountability, transparency, and trust

On 15 July 2022, Stephan Kuster, head of public affairs at Frontiers, gave a speech at the closing reception of the EuroScience Open Forum, Europe’s largest interdisciplinary science conference. Thank you, Professor Breedveld. Good evening. My name is Stephan Kuster. I am head of public affairs at Frontiers. I joined Frontiers because we are a fully open access, research publisher whose mission is clear and simply put.  We want to make all science open. We believe that global, existential threats call for scientific breakthroughs at pace, based on full and immediate access to the latest research.  In short, science that is open to the many, not just the few. We are delighted to support the forum in this, its tenth year. The ESOF team has done a fantastic job bringing us all together and framing the conversation. It has asked how scientific endeavour can cross borders, between disciplines, geographies and worldviews. And it has challenged us to engage with the public, to shape policy. Now the scientific community in recent years has made enormous progress on both these fronts. Not least in our collective response to the pandemic. But success is not guaranteed. Too often, science has been captured by […]

Open science policy

08 Jul 2022

International Year of Basic Sciences takes center stage on sustainability in partnership with Frontiers

Hosted by UNESCO in Paris, the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development (IYBSSD), welcomes leaders from the scientific community from around the world today to its inaugural opening ceremony.  Sponsored by the open access publisher Frontiers, the IYBSSD initiative welcomes leading figures from research institutions, governments, and international unions to discuss the role of basic sciences in addressing the challenges identified by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The IYBSSD initiative harbours considerable support from the global scientific community. It is regarded as a leading advocate for the universal adoption of open science as an enabler to achieving a sustainable future for people and planet. IYBSSD has the support of 50 international organizations and unions; an international advisory committee of 100 science academies, networks, and learned societies; and 30 Nobel Laureates and Fields Medallists. The initiative is also supported by today’s host, UNESCO. As Gold sponsor of the initiative, as well as a signatory to the United Nations Publishers Compact, Frontiers’ head of public affairs Stephan Kuster emphasized the publishers’ support for strengthening the link between policy, science, and the public. “Today’s opening ceremony marks an important moment. We cannot […]

Open science policy

06 Jul 2022

Prof Jeff Camkin: ‘The biggest misconception is that open science is just for researchers and academics. It’s not.’

Prof Jeff Camkin Prof Jeff Camkin, of the University of Western Australia, is a water and sustainable development specialist. He is co-founder and editor-in-chief of the World Water Policy Journal – a platform for the world’s emerging water leaders and thinkers. Jeff’s focus is on promoting the connection between policy, research, and community connectivity through transdisciplinarity, better utilization of local knowledge, more effective collaboration, and capacity building. Today, he tells us about the importance of democratizing science worldwide and implementing open science with the help of UNESCO. What inspired you to become a researcher? Frankly, I’m not really inspired to be a researcher, per se. Perhaps 20 years ago, I realized that what I wanted from my career was to understand water and natural resource management from as wide a range of viewpoints as possible to be more effective in influencing positive change. Sometimes the best way to do that is through research, sometimes it’s by directly advising decision-makers, and other times by working more closely with community or industry stakeholders. So, my career has been a mix of activities, ranging from positions in government agencies responsible for water and fisheries policy development, providing policy advice directly to ministerial decision-makers, […]

Open science policy

01 Apr 2022

Frontiers’ support for UKRI’s Open Access policy

We continue to support UKRI’s open access policy, which will see all peer-reviewed research articles resulting from its funding made universally and freely accessible to people everywhere from today. The spirit of Plan S and the open access movement continue to make progress. UKRI should be commended for its position and support of open access’s original model. Barriers to research by way of expensive paywalls impair scientific discovery. The rapid and free dissemination of research and data around COVID-19 resulted in the fastest vaccine development in human history. The same dynamic of international collaboration must be extended to all research on all critical societal challenges, such as cancer and climate change. UKRI’s policy is simple, effective and enforceable; and it provides a framework for scientific publishing that addresses the urgency of the challenges that confront society.  We can be optimistic that this policy will reinforce the growing call – by the Plan S signatories and others – to combat the efforts of subscription publishers to indefinitely extend the harmful status quo of paywalled access to knowledge, for example through the use of commercial tactics such as “transformative agreements.” Dr. Frederick Fenter, chief executive editor, Frontiers ENDS. Frontiers is the 3rd […]