The European Research Council (ERC) announced today that it will participate in the UK PubMed Central (UKPMC) open access repository service, joining 18 existing UK and European funders[i].The ERC becomes the third European funder to join UKPMC, following Telethon Italy and the Austrian Research Fund. As a result of this participation, the existing funders have agreed that the service will be rebranded as ‘Europe PubMed Central’ (Europe PMC) by 1 November 2012. A key aim of this initiative is to extend the repository further and encourage other European funders of life sciences research to make the outputs of the research they fund freely available through Europe PMC. Read the Wellcome Trust press release.
[i] The UKPMC Funders’ Group, led by the Wellcome Trust, is comprised of Action on Hearing Loss, Arthritis Research UK, Austrian Research Fund (FWF), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Chief Scientist Office (Scotland), Dunhill Medical Trust, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Medical Research Council, Motor Neurone Disease Association, Multiple Sclerosis Society, Myrovlytis Trust, National Institute for Health Research, Parkinson’s UK and Telethon (Italy). See http://ukpmc.ac.uk/Funders