UK Research Councils back open access

There was some good news for open access supporters in the UK, in the Guardian yesterday.

The UK Research Councils have decided that people getting research grants will need to make the fruits of that research freely available on the Net. This is a big deal the UK. The government had rejected recommendations from the House of Commons' Science and Technology committee on open access, after publishers expressed concerns about the economic impact of such a move. But it looks like the Research Councils have decided to ignore the government line.

I doubt we've heard the end of this, as neither the government nor the publishing industry will be prepared to let this go lightly.