The White House has posted a petition calling for public access to federally funded research results. It urges President Obama to “require free access over the Internet to scientific journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research.”

This petition follows MIT’s recent participation in the Obama Administration’s Request for Information (RFI) on public access to the results of federally funded research. In the response, MIT affirmed that public access is “of substantial significance” to MIT, because public access aligns with MIT’s mission to “generate, disseminate, and preserve knowledge,” and because:

“The ability of research universities to continue to contribute to the welfare of the nation and the interests of the states and local communities in which we reside is fundamentally connected to the open availability of the research results produced by MIT and by the country’s large and small research universities.”

This new petition will help the Obama Administration identify the priorities to act on in the next few months. If it yields 25,000 signatures in 30 days, it will be reviewed by White House staff, and considered for action.

To review or sign the petition:
Visit the We The People site