About the Alliance

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a coalition of patient groups, physicians, researchers, educational institutions, publishers, and health promotion organizations that support barrier-free access to taxpayer-funded research.

ATA is directed by the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), an alliance of academic and research libraries and organizations committed to the promotion of systems that capitalize on the networked environment to disseminate research (http://www.arl.org/sparc). The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is committed to the following four general principles:

1. American taxpayers are entitled to open access on the Internet to the peer-reviewed scientific articles on research funded by the U.S. Government.
2. Widespread access to the information contained in these articles is an essential, inseparable component of our nation's investment in science.
3. This and other scientific information should be shared in cost-effective ways that take advantage of the Internet, stimulate further discovery and innovation, and advance the translation of this knowledge into public benefits.
4. Enhanced access to and expanded sharing of information will lead to usage by millions of scientists, professionals, and individuals, and will deliver an accelerated return on the taxpayers' investment.

ATA advances these principles through advocacy of US Government-wide public access and other policies that support the sharing of science made possible by the Internet and taxpayer investments.

The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is administered by The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), a non-profit coalition of libraries working to create a more open system for the exchange of scholarly research results.