The Graduate Student Council voted unanimously on December 7 to submit an official response to the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Request for Information (RFI) on Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications Resulting From Federally Funded Research.

The GSC draft response affirms that “Open access allows all educational institutions, regardless of size or funding, to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers,” and calls for the federal government to mandate “that scholarly publications that result from federally funded research are available to the U.S. tax payers.”

The RFI, which asks for comments on 8 questions, is intended to allow “interested individuals and organizations to provide recommendations on approaches for ensuring long-term stewardship and broad public access to peer-reviewed scholarly publications.” Responses to the RFI are being accepted until January 2, 2012.

More information:
RFI Details