FRPAA: an acronym we can (and should) all get behind

IssueLab just posted a statement in support of FRPAA. FRPAA stands for Federal Research Public Access Act (S.1373) and that stands for good.

In a nutshell, (and I'm swiping this paragraph from the Alliance for Taxpayer Access (ATA) folks because they said I could):

FRPAA legislation would require that any federal agency with a budget of $100,000,000 or more earmarked for extramural research develop a policy on public access to publicly funded research. Among other things, the legislation would require government funded research papers to be made available in publicly accessible Internet archives within six months of publication in a peer reviewed journal, and would ensure the long-term preservation of, and free public access to, the published research finding in a stable digital repository.

Being an open access archive of social policy research, IssueLab is very much in support of the FRPAA. Social policy research, just like scientific, technological, and medical research, builds on past attempts to dissect, understand, prescribe, evaluate, and ultimately share newly generated knowledge, which in turn starts the process of furthering knowledge all over again. Mandates such as the FRPAA encourage and strengthen this process. Improving access to publicly funded research will only help researchers from all backgrounds, including those at nonprofit organizations who work toward solutions to social ills, build on past findings, accelerating innovation that can improve countless lives.

Please check out ATA's very informative site re: this legislation and join us in supporting this cause!