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From Now On You'll Be Able To Access NASA Research For Free (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the free-and-open-stuff dept.

An anonymous reader writes:Fancy some super nerdy bedtime reading? NASA has announced that it will now provide public access to all journal articles on research funded by the agency. Any scientists publishing NASA-funded work will be required to upload their papers to a free, online database called PubSpace within a year of publication. PubSpace is managed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) PubMed Central, which archives biomedical research. You can see NASA-funded studies here, with recent examples including a paper on cardiovascular disease in Apollo astronauts and one on Martian tsunamis caused by meteor impacts. NASA explains that the new web portal is a response to a 2013 government request for federally-funded research to be more accessible. There are a few obvious exceptions to what's included, such as and material that's related to national security or affected by export controls. NASA's openness follows a trend to make science results more accessible outside of published, often paywalled journals.

10 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Except by ls671 · · Score: 2

    Except Bigelow papers and the like on aliens and what not.

    Links:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    Bigelow ranch:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
    Bigelow and NASA:
    https://www.nasa.gov/feature/a...

    Other links:
    http://www.educatinghumanity.c...
    http://beforeitsnews.com/paran...
    http://www.michaelleehill.net/...

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    Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
  2. The culture of modern science by npslider · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The greater access everyone has to primary source material the better. When most people are only learning about new discoveries from mass media that cites research papers, much is lost and bias is introduced. The results of research should not be a walled fortress for the elite in-crowd, but an open, accessible library of knowledge for all.

  3. Similar to PubMed by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 4, Informative

    PubMed is the open access research paper depository for all federally funded medical research. It's open and free too.

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    1. Re:Similar to PubMed by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, it's PubSpace.

      Just because the depository behind it is hosted on the same server doesn't mean it's not different.

      One of our servers in our department hosts something like 14 databases, each of which has a few hundred tables of data. Permissions and access vary between all of them.

      If you go in through the PubSpace portal, you see space-related research, but you probably won't see the other stuff. I frequently get notified of scientific articles on different accumulator lists, such as genetics, biofuel, and environmental sciences filters. They all point to the same journal article, but the reference that pointed to them is a different framework.

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  4. the exceptions list is small. by nimbius · · Score: 3, Funny

    1. results and findings of throwing things off the 5th floor including preliminary impact analysis of the rolly chair with the bum wheel
    2. design and analysis fundamentals of keiths weird potentially fish based lunches
    3. who backed into nicoles 1994 Toyota Tercel, and preliminary research findings into nicoles general inability to park in lot G
    4. analytic research and results of the exploratory discovery research into why the second floor refrigerator smells like horse farts.
    5. concluded final analysis and prepared summary of how the break room fan makes a really scary noise and causes a lot of anxiety
    6. "oh god christ theres a bee in the suit" and additional redacted commentary from launch events.

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    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:the exceptions list is small. by npslider · · Score: 2

      6. "oh god christ theres a bee in the suit" and additional redacted commentary from launch events.

      The bee in question must first approve the release of this information.

  5. this is a good thing, but not enough... by rgbatduke · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I actually had the privilege of advising the govt to do this a few years ago, so it is nice that it is happening. But even then, NASA was progressive and required open access to data and more from their supported publications. This is a notch up.

    The problem is that it needs to be mandated across all journals, and the journals then will face a major problem -- how will they survive when one no longer needs to buy journal subscriptions to fund the journals? Government support isn't a good answer for lots of reasons. But what answer IS a good answer?

    I don't know, but they'd better find it soon, because the Internet has made old-style journals largely obsolete and the public will no longer tolerate not being able to read the research they, after all, ultimately paid for. It is my profound hope that the NSF and other major agencies follow suit immediately. We'll see if e.g. Physical Review can survive it and deal with what comes either way.

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    Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
  6. Read that as NSA and holly fuck by future+assassin · · Score: 2

    has American embraced freedom over night?

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    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  7. Delayed? by DriveDog · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Good, but a year??? How about 30 days? How about 72 hours? How about simultaneously?

  8. Re:So They Aren't Charging Us For What by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 2

    A lot of their material has been online for years:

    http://naca.larc.nasa.gov/sear...