Nature: Trump administration might require open-access publication of US-funded scientific results

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 61%. (I'm a bot)

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Two groups that represent publishers in the United States and around the world sent letters to the US government on 18 December opposing any policy that would mandate immediate open access.

It is not clear whether the rumoured US policy would mirror Plan S, or merely mandate that research be made free to read. But requiring a similar policy for studies funded by the United States government would "Effectively nationalize the valuable American intellectual property that we produce and force us to give it away to the rest of the world for free", the Association of American Publishers in Washington DC wrote to President Donald Trump.

The potential policy change has fueled the fierce debate between scientists who favour open-access publishing and publishers of subscription journals, many of whom publish some open-access work but say they would struggle to make their business sustainable if all papers were published this way.

Several scientists who advocate for open access say the current policy does not go far enough - and they countered the publishers' arguments against the changes the White House is said to be considering.

"As a nonprofit scientific society and global publisher, AAAS seeks to engage constructively on conversations about open access. Since details of any potential change to policy are not yet known, we are unable to further comment at this time," spokesperson Tiffany Lohwater said in a statement.

The Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, a group that represents more than 200 US college and university libraries, said on 19 December that its members "Wholeheartedly endorse updating current policy and eliminating the unnecessary 12-month waiting period".

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