Media Advisory
For Immediate Release
July 28, 2006

Contact: 
Jennifer Heffelfinger
jennifer@arl.org
(202) 247-6185

25 University Provosts Sign Open Letter of Support
for Public Access Act

Washington, DC – July 28, 2006 – Twenty-five university provosts have jointly released an open letter to the higher education community expressing their support for the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006. The Act would require federal agencies that fund over $100 million in annual external research to make manuscripts of peer-reviewed journal articles stemming from that research publicly available via the Internet.

The signatories represent major universities throughout the U.S. and leaders in academic research and scholarship. The letter highlights the need for more equitable access to knowledge in an age where the federal government funds approximately 50% of university research, and urges others in the academic community to voice their support. The letter is online at http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/frpaa/Provosts_openletter_06-JUL.pdf.

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The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a coalition of patient, academic, research, and publishing entities that support expanded access to the results of federally funded research. The Alliance was formed in 2004 to urge that peer-reviewed articles on taxpayer-funded research become fully accessible and available online at no extra cost to the American public. Details on the ATA may be found at http://www.taxpayeraccess.org.