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December 18, 2019 President Donald J. Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Trump: We are writing to express our concerns about a possible change in federal policies that could significantly threaten a vibrant American scientific enterprise, which has long been a global leader in driving discovery and innovation. The changes reportedly being discussed would effectively require publishers to immediately make federally funded scientific discoveries published in their journals freely available to the global market. Currently, free distribution of research findings is subject to a 12-month embargo, enabling American publishers to recover the investment made in curating and assuring the quality of scientific research content.
As scientific society leaders overseeing publishing operations, we support open access and have a strong history of advancing open access through a broad array of operational models. This current system allows scientific societies to meet the needs of researchers and U.S. taxpayers, while also funding programs to support the scientific enterprise to keep America a global leader in research and innovation. The current 12-month embargo period provides science and engineering society publishers the financial stability that enables us to support peer review that ensures the quality and integrity of the research enterprise. Further, it enables us to drive advancement in our respective scientific fields through our meetings, programs and outreach. One particular area of importance is strengthening U.S. STEM infrastructure through education, career, and outreach programs which together build a diverse STEM workforce that underlies U.S. discovery and innovation. U.S. scientific societies are committed to working on a broad array of issues, including research integrity, data sharing, accessibility, and transparency.
To take action to shorten the 12-month embargo would undermine cooperative efforts to address these bigger, higher priorities, and risks the continued international leadership for the U.S. scientific enterprise. Rather than upsetting the current proven and successful model for reporting, curating and archiving scientific results and advancing the U.S. research enterprise, we encourage your Administration to engage with a broad array of stakeholders to collaboratively ensure openness and reliability in research and development.
To that end, we stand ready to work with all interested parties in a forward-looking and constructive manner. Sincerely yours,
American Anthropological Association
American Association for Dental Research
American Association of Physics Teachers
American Astronomical Society
American Chemical Society
American Dental Association
American Educational Research Association
American Geophysical Union
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
American Institute of Biological Sciences
American Institute of Chemical Engineers
American Mathematical Society
American Nuclear Society
American Oil Chemists Society
American Physical Society
American Physiological Society
American Psychiatric Association
American Psychological Association
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
American Society of Agronomy
American Society of Civil Engineers
American Society of Hematology
American Society of Human Genetics
American Society for Investigative Pathology
American Society of Mechanical Engineers
American Society of Plant Biologists
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
American Sociological Association
American Statistical Association
American Thoracic Society
Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Psychological Science
Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
Biophysical Society
Crop Science Society of America
Council of Scientific Society Presidents
Ecological Society of America
Endocrine Society
Entomological Society of America
Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Genetics Society of America
Geological Society of America GeoScienceWorld
International Association for Dental Research
Material Research Society
Mineralogical Society of America
National Academy of Forensic Engineers Seismological
Society of America SEPM
Society for Sedimentary Geology
Society for Biomaterials
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Society for Neuroscience
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
Society for Redox Biology and Medicine
Society of Economic Geologists
Society for Glycobiology
Society for the Study of Reproduction
Soil Science Society of America
The American Association of Immunologists
The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
The Optical Society