Historians angered by STEM focus of open access developments

The Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council have let researchers down in negotiations on future rules for open access publishing, a conference of history specialists has heard.

Jane Humphries, president of the Economic History Society, told a gathering at the Institute of Historical Research in London that learned societies in the arts and humanities have worked quickly and effectively together to develop a shared view on the developing plans for making all government-funded research freely available via open access. However, “this has been in contrast to the ESRC and the AHRC, who have not represented our interests with force and alacrity within Research Councils UK,” she said.