Position statement on Open Access

Position statement

Pharmaceutical companies, which fund approximately half of all biomedical research,1 are now leaders in the publication and disclosure of research.2,3 However, access to much company-funded research is restricted by journal paywalls.4 We, as Open Pharma, a group of pharmaceutical companies and other research funders, alongside healthcare professionals, regulators, patients, publishers and other stakeholders in healthcare, recognize the importance of publishing research with open access, where papers can be read without payment of a one-off access charge or subscription. Open access ensures that the highest quality, peer-reviewed evidence is available to anyone who needs it, anywhere in the world. Publishing with open access improves transparency, advances medical science and, we believe, ultimately improves patient care.

Our immediate priority

Our immediate priority is to secure authors publishing company-funded research the same right to publish open access as authors publishing research funded by other sources, so that all research can be made free to read from the date of publication. This would enable pharmaceutical companies to follow the lead of other research funders in requiring all the research they fund to be published with open access, without impacting on journal choice.5-7 In order to provide publishers the time to adapt their policies and protect their copyright interests, any variant of Creative Commons or equivalent licence could be used.

Our long-term goal

Our long-term goal is to secure authors publishing company-funded research the same terms as authors publishing research funded by other sources, so that all research can be made free to read – and reuse – from the date of publication. This would enable pharmaceutical companies to follow the lead of other research funders in maximizing the impact of the research they fund on patient health. Open Pharma is committed to working closely with publishers and pharmaceutical companies to ensure that the gold standard Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence can sustainably be used.8

Acknowledgements

This Open Pharma position statement on open access represents the opinions of the individual members: Catherine Skobe (Pfizer), Chris Rains (Takeda), Chris Winchester (Oxford PharmaGenesis), Julie Newman (Gilead), Lise Baltzer (Novo Nordisk), Sarah Sabir (Oxford PharmaGenesis) and Valerie Philippon (Takeda), and not necessarily those of their individual companies. We thank the members, supporters and followers of Open Pharma for their input and valuable discussion.

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Endorsements

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Publishers

Betasciencepress Publishing; ecancer; F1000 Research Ltd.; Frontiers Media SA; Future Science Group; Hindawi; MDPI; Orapuh, Inc.; PLOS; Wiley

Organizations

AIX Consultancy; Ataxia & Me; Autoinflammatory UK; Cambridge Rare Disease Network; Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders; Centro Español de Investigación Farmacoepidemiológica (CEIFE); Cinclus Pharma Holding AB; DSL Consulting, LLC; Epi-Fit; FibroFlutters Patient Advocacy; Galapágos NV; Inspiring STEM; International Kidney Cancer Coalition; Ipsen; KAN Consulting MON. I.K.E; Kidney Research UK; M-CM Network; M-Spective Ltd; Observational and Pragmatic Research Institute Pte; Outcomes Positive, Inc; Oxford Health Policy Forum; Oxford PharmaGenesis; Pedalling4ACure; SCN2A Australia; Scott Pharma Solutions; Scriva Medical Communications; Sequoia Medical Communications Ltd; Solanum Medical Communications Ltd; SUDEP Action; The Aarskog Foundation; ThinkSCIENCE, Inc.; Zimbabwe Evidence Informed Policy Network

Individuals

Andrew Xia, AIX Consultancy; Mary Kunappu, Alexion Pharmaceuticals; Larisa Miller, Alexion Pharmaceuticals; Kenneth Pomerantz, Alexion Pharmaceuticals; Mario Palencia, Aparito; Scott Armit, Ataxia & Me; Alan Thomas, Ataxia & Me; John Wallace, Autoinflammatory UK; Gavin Giovannoni, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry; Roland J.W. Meesters, Betasciencepress Publishing; Andrew Balas, Biomedical Research Innovation Laboratory; Durhane  Wong-Rieger, Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders; Luis Alberto Garcia Rodriguez, CEIFE; Peter Unge, Cinclus Pharma Holding AB; Cipriano Martinez, Cipriano Martínez LTD; Kathleen Boyle, Cleveland Clinic; Glenda Hardy, CME; Val Tate, Communications Consultant; Raj Kandadai, Cure SCA3; Inmaculada Silos-Santiago, Decibel Therapeutics; Álvaro Díaz, Departamento de Biociencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay; Robert Sim, Department of Respiratory Science, University of Leicester; Douglas Levine, DSL Consulting, LLC; Brian S. Alper, EBSCO Health Innovations, EBSCO Information Services; Katie Foxall, eCancer; Laure Lacoin, Epi-Fit; Saga Johansson, formerly AstraZeneca; Börje Wernersson, formerly AstraZeneca; Evguenia Alechine, Freelance; Paolo Rega, Freelance; Adriana  Rocha, Freelance; Andrea Rossi, Freelance; Denise Lievesley, Green Templeton College; Coral Milburn, Green Templeton College; Wilbur Liu, Haalthy; Laverne Mooney, Independent Consultant; Jane Potee, Ingenta; Tim Day, Innovative Strategic Communications; Linda Edmonson, Innovative Strategic Communications; Martin Delahunty, Inspiring STEM; Emily Medina, Iowa ataxia awareness; Anna Baikova, IPSEN; Kyrstie Sutcliffe, K J Sutcliffe Consulting Ltd; Kamila Novak, KAN Consulting MON. I.K.E; Nicole Bezuidenhout, Karolinska Institute and University of Bologna; Károly Róbert  Kulich, Kulich Consulting; Baiba Ziemele, Latvian Alliance of Rare Diseases; Lauren Xie, Lively Worlds; Jan Schoones, LUMC; Egon Willighagen, Maastricht University; Gina D'Angelo, Magraeme Consulting, LLC; Julia Mawer, Max Planck Institute; Christy Collins, M-CM Network; Grigorios Leontiadis, McMaster University; Franck Vazquez, MDPI; Rita Moreira da Silva, Medscape; Andrew Worsfold, M-Spective Limited; Alban Sigamani, Narayana Health; Michael De Rosa, National Ataxia Foundation; Peter Llewellyn, NetworkPharma Ltd.; Pali Hungin, Newcastle University; Ana-Madalina Ion, Newcastle University; Stephen Canham, Novartis; Klaus Boberg, Novo Nordisk; Chas Bountra, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford; Ivan Gonzalez, Other; Heather Piwowar, Our Research; Tracy Bunting, OutcomesPositive, Inc; Serena Vanzan, Oxford Brookes University; Emma Georgiou, Oxford Health Policy Forum; Kasja Wilhelmsson, Oxford Health System Reform Group; Michelle Antoni, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Akhil Bansal, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Sally Bardell, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Anja Becher, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Julie Beeso, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Nicolas Bertheleme, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Elin Bevan, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Karol Bociek, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Emma Bolton, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Adele Buss, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Emma Butcher, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Lisa Deakin, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Joshua Dow, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Tim Ellison, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Maria Farrell, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Paul Farrow, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Cassidy Fiford, Oxford PharmaGenesis; George Gomez, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Tamzin Gristwood, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Jessica Hardy, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Alison Hillman, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Steven Inglis, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Aimee Jones, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Tim Koder, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Caroline Leitschuh, Oxford PharmaGenesis; David Lugmayer, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Steph Macdonald, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Shawna Matthews, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Michael Molloy-Bland, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Joana Osório, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Francesca Ounsworth, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Agnieszka Ragan, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Tomas Rees, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Gabriella Ribenfors, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Mark Rolfe, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Adeline Rosenberg, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Sarah Sabir, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Carly Sellick, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Trevor Sills, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Helen Simpson, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Tamsyn Stanborough, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Helen Stimpson, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Bobby Thompson, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Tim van Hartevelt, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Robert Walsh, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Zoe Watts, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Richard White, Oxford PharmaGenesis; Graham Shelton, Oxford University Hospitals Foundation; Magdalen Wind-Mozley, Oxford Vaccine Group; Charles Boyce, patient; Jeannie Smithball, patient; Trishna Bharadia, patient advocate; Danielle Grover, patient advocate; Elizabeth Kinder, patient advocate; Richard Stephens, patient advocate; Tracy Zervakis, patient advocate; Rosario Strano, Pedalling4ACure; Ronika Alexander-Parrish, Pfizer; Ksenia Astanina, Pfizer; Christine Chun, Pfizer; Terri Craig, Pfizer; Sally Dews, Pfizer; Durell Dsouza, Pfizer; Janet Galliera, Pfizer; Nervana Habashy, Pfizer; Arjun Krishnakumar, Pfizer; Devy Lee, Pfizer; Courtney Leo, Pfizer; Mirtha Marcela Garcia, Pfizer; J.R. Meloro, Pfizer; Luciano Passador, Pfizer; Sonia Philipose, Pfizer; Berkeley Phillips, Pfizer; Barbara Pritchard, Pfizer; Sweta Samantaray, Pfizer; Angela Sykes, Pfizer; Adam Watson, Pfizer; Beth Whann, Pfizer; Beth Whann, Pfizer; Marcia Wright, Pfizer; Tatjana Zanki, Pfizer; Ellie Challis, PTEN UK & Ireland; Rachel Giles, Regenerative Medicine Center, IMC Utrecht; Stevan Harnad, Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies; Dermot Ryan, Respiratory Effectiveness Group; Rikke Egelund Olsen, Roche; Christos Petrou, Scholarly Intelligence; Kris Pierce, SCN2A Australia; Susan Scott, Scott Pharma Solutions; Jim Gavin, Scriva medical Communications; David Peters, Sequoia Medical Communications Ltd; Brian Shearer, Shearer Publications, LLC; Sophie Berry, Smith & Nephew; John Gonzalez, Solanum Medical Communications Ltd.; Amy Whereat, Speak the Speech Consulting; Laura Paglione, Spherical Cow Group; Jane Hanna, SUDEP Action; Noor Al-Abood, Taif University; William Spalding, Takeda; Raquel Billiones, Takeda Vaccines; Victoria Woods, Thames Valley Cancer Alliance and NHS England; Zbys Fedorowicz, The Care Combine and North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust; Stuart Taylor, The Royal Society; Caryn Jones, Think Science; John Pernick, Think Science; Luiza Erthal, Trinity College Dublin; Linda Feighery, UCB Pharma; Erik Michels, UCB Pharma; Meredith Hays, Uniformed Sciences University; Emmanual Picavet, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; Martin Rossor, University College London; Reggie Raju, University of Cape Town; Stephen Bradley, University of Leeds; Jukka Ronkainen, University of Oulu; Shivanki Sahay, University of Oxford; Edith Sim, University of Oxford; Barbara Xella, University of Oxford; Iain Chalmers, University of Oxford ; Claire Gillis, WPP; Ronald Munatsi, Zimbabwe Evidence Informed Policy Network.

References

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