Many schools have associated nonprofit publishing bodies known as university presses. These institutions usually publish academic books with the intent of disseminating important knowledge and promoting the public good. With this mission in mind, it would seem as though these academic centers would be among the first to support the Fair Access to Science & Technology Research Act, or FASTR, a bill that would provide public access to a huge majority of taxpayer-funded research—much of which happens at colleges and universities.
Is Your University Press a
Member of the AAP?
- American University in Cairo Press
- Cambridge University Press
- Columbia University Press
- Fordham University Press
- Gallaudet University Press
- Georgetown University Press
- Harvard Business Review Group
- Harvard University Press
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Michigan State University Press
- MIT Press
- MPublishing (University of Michigan Press)
- NYU Press
- Oxford University Press
- Pennsylvania State University Press
- Princeton University Press
- Rockefeller University Press
- Stanford University Press
- Temple University Press
- University of California Press
- University of Chicago Press
- University of Hawaii Press
- University of Illinois Press
- University of North Carolina Press
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- University of Tennessee Press
- University of Texas Press
- University Press of Colorado
- Utah State University Press
- Wesleyan University Press
- Yale University Press
Many university presses, however, are members of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), an organization that opposes FASTR (yet supports the White House public access memo). The AAP had earlier supported the ill-fated Research Works Act, a bill that would severely curb open access policies that thousands of researchers—and eventually scientific journal powerhouse Elsevier—came out against.
Ask your university press to disavow the AAP stance on FASTR. Universities, as major recipients of federal funding for research, should be in support of a strong public access bill; their own publishing shops should not, by default, subscribe to the AAP's position.
You can use the following letter:
To Whom It May Concern:
As a student, I care about having access to the latest scientific research—especially research that is funded by taxpayer money.
The Fair Access to Science & Technology Research (FASTR) Act, introduced with bipartisan support in the House and Senate, would sanction a public access policy across major federal government funding bodies—including those that support our university's research.
Our university is dedicated to advancing knowledge and promoting the public good. In keeping with this mission, our university press should come out in support of FASTR and disavow the negative stance taken by the Association of American Publishers, which has a history of rejecting strong open access policies.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]