G8 Science Ministers Endorse Open Access

Science ministers from the G8 group of the world’s richest countries have jointly endorsed the need to increase access to publicly-funded research.

In a joint statement proposing “new areas” of scientific collaboration for the countries, the ministers say they “recognise the potential benefits of immediate global access to and unrestricted use of published peer-reviewed, publicly funded research results”.

“We share the intention, therefore, to continue our cooperative efforts and will consider how best to address the global promotion of increasing public access to the results of publicly funded published research including to peer-reviewed published research and research data,” the statement says.

The document follows the first-ever joint meeting of G8 science ministers, held at the Royal Society in London on 12 June, and precedes next week’s G8 summit in Northern Ireland.