URGENT: US Citizens MUST Sign RWA petition

I’m amazed and saddened that the community has not massively signed the petition against the RWA. (I haven’t because I’m not a US citizen). The petition wanted 25,000 signatures and has only got a much smaller amount. It gives the impression that academia doesn’t care. If the petition isn’t signed, then publishers will say “what a wonderful job we’re doing. Academia loves us – they approve of the RWA – The NIH is against the vibrant market economy, etc.

It’s simple – sign the petition.

Subject: HR3699, Research Works Act

Rep. Caroline Maloney has not backed off in her attempt to put forward the interests of Elsevier and other academic publishers.

If you oppose this measure, please sign this petition on the official ‘we the people’ White House web site. It needs 23,000 signatures before February 22nd and only 1100 so far. Please forward far and wide.

Oppose HR3699, the Research Works Act

HR 3699, the Research Works Act will be detrimental to the free flow of scientific information that was created using Federal funds. It is an attempt to put federally funded scientific information behind pay-walls, and confer the ownership of the information to a private entity. This is an affront to open government and open access to information created using public funds.

This link gets you to the petition:

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/oppose-hr3699-research-works-act/vKMhCX9k

—
Raji Edayathumangalam
Instructor in Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Research Associate, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Visiting Research Scholar, Brandeis University

Do NOT assume that RWA will fail. A failure to fill the petition will set us back. A late rally will have huge impact.

PeterMR and PeterMR’s avatar oppose RWA (and so do many publishers)