In an op-ed published by Science Magazine, Paul Courant argues that "journal articles derived from federal research funding should be made publicly available as quickly as practicable—generally in a year or less after publication—and in ways that will improve scholarship by maximizing the scope for interoperability across articles, among disciplines, and internationally."
Courant and his co-authors served as members of the U.S. House Science and Technology Committee's Roundtable on Scholarly Publishing, and their op-ed echoed a report issued by the Roundtable last week. The Roundtable was charged with examining the current state of scholarly publishing and to develop recommendations around public access to journal articles generated from federally funded research. Courant asserts that the committee's report took "a centrist perspective" in seeking to balance the needs of the scholarly communications enterprise with the need for broader access and richer scholarship.