On Friday 25th May 2012 we (Imperial College SciComm Forum) hosted a discussion on open access to taxpayer-funded research. The event was chaired by Alice Bell and Chris Bird (Senior Lawyer, Wellcome Trust), Stephen Curry (Professor of Structural Biology, Imperial College London), David Hoole (Marketing Director, Nature Publishing Group), Michael Jubb (Director, Research Information Network & Secretary, Working Group on Expanding Access) & Graham Taylor (Director of Educational, Academic & Professional Publishing, Publishers Association) were on the panel. The conversation ranged from why we should care about open access, what is valuable about journals & the new business models being considered, library funding, post-publication review, and a sneak peek at the conclusions of the soon-to-be-released Finch Report. The event continued on Twitter under #OAdebate – feel free to keep it going! We realise that this is a huge topic and that this debate merely scratched the surface: stay tuned for further events on open access to develop this discussion.

Follow us on Twitter @SciCommForum. Contact the committee: Anna Zecharia (@annazecharia; anna.zecharia@imperial.ac.uk), Harriet Gliddon (@HarrietGliddon; harrietgliddon@google.mail.com) and Alexandra Anderson (alexandra.anderson@imperial.ac.uk). Please get in touch with any comments or questions. 

With thanks to Stephen Webster & Imperial Postdoc Development Centre for funding and to Graham Steel for advice & assistance.

• Open Access
• #OAdebate

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