News of the Trump administration’s potential executive order comes as momentum is building around the globe in support of open access
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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In late December, rumors surfaced that the Trump Administration may be preparing an executive order to require all publications from federally funded research to be available immediately under “open access” publishing models.
On Capitol Hill, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, expressed concern over such a potential executive order in a December 12 letter to the White House. A December 18 statement from the Association of American Publishers also noted that, “more than 135 organizations – representing publishers in scientific and medical societies, global companies, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – have expressed their strong opposition to [the] proposed Administration policy.”
“News of the Trump administration’s potential executive order comes as momentum is building around the globe in support of open access,” Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer, tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
Coming from the White House, Albanese says, such “an executive order requiring ‘immediate’ free access to scholarly journal articles would be an extraordinary measure. First and foremost, because executive orders are not laws. They can be reversed by another executive order. So, if President Trump were to issue this order, a future president could undo the mandate with another executive order.”
Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
