News

The US’s National Science Foundation (NSF) is to require grant applicants to include a data management plan in their proposals. The move is part of a broader effort by the NSF and other federal agencies to enhance community access to data and was described as a ‘scientific necessity’ by Edward Seidel, acting head of NSF's mathematics and physical sciences directorate. It is seen as ‘phase one’ of a more general effort to ensure that data from publicly-funded research is made easily shareable.

The current policy has a requirement that grantees share their data within a reasonable length of time, something that Seidel described as "... nice, but it doesn't have much teeth". The new policy, to be published in the autumn, will require a two-page data management plan to be submitted as part of each proposal, making it subject to the merit review process.

EOS has responded to two public consultations this month - the European Commission's consultation on its strategy for EU2020 ('a smarter, greener social market') and the US White House Office of Science & Technology Policy's Public Access Policy Forum.

The EOS Board welcomes a new member, Professor Martin Hall. Professor Hall is Vice Chancellor at Salford University in the United Kingdom He took up his current post in 2009 after forging a distinguished academic career in archaeology and social sciences in South Africa.

The faculty at Oberlin College have unanimously endorsed a resolution to make their outputs openly available on the Web.

EOS Board member

Tom Cochrane has made available an account of his Open Access policy implementation at QUT and its effects on research in that university.

The EPSRC, the UK's largest research council, has published a study it commissioned on the impact of the work it funds.

The European Commission hosted a large conference in Brussels this week on the future of science in Europe. Four members of the EOS Board were invited to participate in a session to discuss Open Access and preservation policies to strengthen science in the European Research Area.

Sijbolt Noorda has written about Open Access for the Dutch DANS (Data Archiving and Networked Services) Open Data Speakers' Corner, established for Open Access Week.

This coming week is international Open Access Week. Events and celebrations will be taking place around the world. EOS will be playing its part at a large conference hosted by the European Commission in Brussels.

The worldwide tally of Open Access mandatory policies reached the milestone of 100 when on Friday 16 October the University of Salford announced its policy, which will be implemented from January 2010.