Category Archives: RCUK

Open letter to the Publishers Association: please amend your open access decision tree

Posted on 30 March 2015 by Stephen

Dear Publishers Association I ask that you amend the open access decision tree you created for incorporation into the guidance notes accompanying the Open Access (OA) policy announced by Research Councils UK (RCUK) in 2013. It may seem odd to … Continue reading →

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Parliamentary committee slams UK policy on open access

Posted on 10 September 2013 by Stephen

The UK House of Commons has its dander up. Having bloodied the prime minister over Syria in the past fortnight, the select committee of MPs that oversees the work of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has issued … Continue reading →

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Open access on the conference circuit

Posted on 6 July 2013 by Stephen

Having devoted a fair number of the words on this blog to open access over the past year and a half, I have found myself invited to an increasing number of meetings on the topic. Whether run by RLUK, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, RCUK, scientific conferences, translation UK, Wellcome Trust | Comments Off on Open access on the conference circuit

Impact Factors — the revised RCUK open access guidelines

Posted on 9 April 2013 by Stephen

It has happened. Yesterday RCUK published the revised guidelines on its new open access policy and, as requested by this blog and everyone who signed up in support, the document (PDF) now includes, on page one no less, a statement … Continue reading →

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Impact Factors — Letter to RCUK

Posted on 21 March 2013 by Stephen

Following my post of last week asking RCUK to include in the guidelines on their new open access policy a statement disavowing the use of impact factors in assessing funding applications, I wanted to thank everyone who registered their support. … Continue reading →

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Impact factors — RCUK provides a chance to act

Posted on 14 March 2013 by Stephen

If I had more time, this post would be shorter. But it explains how we have an opportunity to get UK research councils to help break the corrosive dependence of researchers on impact factors. Please at least skim all the … Continue reading →

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Royal Society Meeting on Open Access in the UK: What Willetts Wants

Posted on 27 February 2013 by Stephen

After all the excitement of open access (OA) developments last Friday, there was a chance to take stock this Monday at the Royal Society’s conference on “Open access in the UK and what it means for scientific research”. The meeting, … Continue reading →

Posted in David Sweeney, David Willetts, HEFCE, Open Access, RCUK, Royal Society, Tom Welton | Comments Off on Royal Society Meeting on Open Access in the UK: What Willetts Wants

Continental drift: important open access developments in the UK and US

Posted on 24 February 2013 by Stephen

Last Friday was a big day for open access — it felt like a kind of transition. In the morning the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords (the unelected second chamber in the UK parliament) published the … Continue reading →

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Raising Expectations: Funders Get Tough(ish)

Posted on 22 January 2013 by Athene Donald

About 18 months ago, Dame Sally Davies, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer, unilaterally raised the bar for Medical Schools wanting to apply to future rounds of funding through the Biomedical Research Centre scheme, demanding (in essence) that they obtain an … Continue reading →

Posted in Athena Swan, Equality, funding, RCUK, Women in science | Comments Off on Raising Expectations: Funders Get Tough(ish)

Response to House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Call for Evidence on Open Access

Posted on 18 January 2013 by Stephen

In the UK the parliamentary House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology is conducting an enquiry into the implementation of the government’s policy on open access. Last Tuesday they took oral evidence from Dame Janet Finch (which you … Continue reading →

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