The UK Government has accepted most of the recommendations of Dame Janet Finch's report into Open Access and is working towards a 2014 timeframe to open up publicly funded research.
Finch's recommendations, which have been welcomed by the Reserch Councils UK (RCUK) include:
- Delivering OA through the 'gold' model
- Allowing the general public free access to global research publications owned by members of the UK Publishers Association - via public libraries
- Extending access to high technology companies at modest costs
The UK's Universities and Science Minister (David Willetts) said that the removal of paywalls would benefit the UK's economy - as well as delivering social benefits.
For more information, see the original press release from the UK's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.