United Kingdom and open access

The UK Research Councils posted a position statement yesterday calling for researchers funded by the councils to deposit their works resulting from such funding into a repository.

The individual groups that comprise the UK Research Councils are charged with determining the appropriate means for pursuing this policy in collaboration with their stakeholders.

The Medical Research Council will require that research papers funded by their group be placed in PubMed Central within 6 months.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council announced that new projects will be required to deposit resulting works into an appropriate e-print repository "at the earliest opportunity." Researchers receiving current or past funding from the council are also encouraged to deposit their works in a repository as well.

Other member councils, such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, have not yet come to a decision regarding the means by which broader access to funded research results will be attained.