indicate that freely accessible papers are downloaded and cited more often than papers available only via subscriptions. The study suggests that even a modest 1% increase in the accessibility and efficiency of the papers covered by this proposed legislation could result in a 20% annual return on the 11 agencies’ investments in research and development. Houghton’s US study closely examines the model’s sensitivity to critical assumptions and broadly concludes that the benefits of public access would exceed the costs over a wide range of scenarios. However, Houghton and his team recognize that these studies represent a starting point for detailed economic analysis. Crucially, the study also defines additional data and model developments that the authors suggest can help to fine-tune future estimates of the policy’s impact, and they also encourage the use/evolution of the model by any interested stakeholders. While some publishing trade organizations (most notably STM, the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers) have criticized the report’s findings in a press release,12 no alternative economic data or models have yet been provided. Conclusion Collectively, this series of reports and studies focusing on developing effective mechanisms to quantify the potential return on investment in scientific research through providing greater access provides an important new data set to be considered in policy deliberations. Continuing to refine such models, or creating additional models, can only serve to enhance our understanding of the potential impact of opening up access to the results of publicly funded research. 1 Council of the European Union, “Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council,” March 13/14, 2008, rev. May 20, 2008, p. 7, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/99410.pdf. 2 Mark Ware, Access by UK Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises to Professional and Academic Information, ([London]: Publishing Research Consortium, August 2009), 13, table 2, http://www.publishingresearch.net/SMEaccess.htm. 3 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Governments Should Improve Access to Publicly Funded Research, Finds OECD Report,” news release, Sept. 22, 2005, http://www.oecd.org/document/1/0,2340,en_2649_201185_35397879_1_1_1_1,00.html. See also the full report: John Houghton and Graham Vickery, Digital Broadband Content: Scientific Publishing ([Paris]: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005), http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/12/35393145.pdf. 4 “Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council,” p.5. 5 ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Repository Material Archiving Policies), http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/. 6 John Houghton et al., Economic Implications of Alternative Scholarly Publishing Models: Exploring the Costs and Benefits, ([Bristol, England]: JISC, John Houghton et al., January 2009), 167, 224, RLI 273 32 Public Access to Federally Funded Research ( C O N T I N U E D ) DECEMBER 2010 RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUES: A BIMONTHLY REPORT FROM ARL, CNI, AND SPARC