Health Research Alliance

When a network that funds more than $1.5 billion in research annually promotes better access to scientific research, it can have a profound impact.

The Health Research Alliance, a group of 52 not-for-profit, nongovernmental funders of health research and training, has taken steps to encourage its members to implement strong policies to make articles that report on the research that they fund openly accessible online to the public.

The Raleigh, N.C.-based organization, led by Executive Director Kate Ahlport, tackled the issue of public access to scientific research and in 2012 launched the HRA Public Access Initiative. A variety of resources were assembled and shared with the membership for interested members to use when adopting a public access policy.

For its efforts in promoting the sharing of scientific information to the nonprofit community, SPARC recognizes the Alliance as its January 2013 Innovator.

July 2012: The World Bank

January 2012: Michael Nielsen

July 2011: PLoS ONE

January 2011: Ventura R. Pérez

June 2010: Authors of the Panton Principles – A Call for Open Data in Science

January 2010: Optical Society of America

July 2009: Mike Rossner, Executive Director, Rockefeller University Press, New York

January 2009: R. Preston McAfee

June 2008:
Harvard University Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Addendum: Stanford University School of Education passes open access policy in wake of Harvard’s action

SPARC Innovator - December 2007:
AGENTS OF CHANGE - Student Activists for open access

SPARC Innovator - June 2007:
Ted & Carl Bergstrom

SPARC Innovator - December 2006:
Melissa Hagemann
Program Manager of the Open Access Initiative, Information Program, Open Society Institute 

SPARC Innovator - July 2006:
University of California

SPARC Innovator - April 2006:
Herbert Van de Sompel

SPARC Innovators are named by the SPARC staff in consultation with the SPARC Steering Committee. Individuals can nominate their colleagues as potential SPARC Innovators at http://www.arl.org/sparc/innovator/nominate.shtml. Criteria include but are not limited to a commitment to: 

• Reducing barriers to access, sharing, and use of scholarship, particularly in the scientific research field;
• Advancing the understanding and implementation of open access to research results;
• Working to create a balanced scholarly communication system;
• Use of technology to develop alternative publishing and communication solutions;
• Refusing to be constrained by the status quo and implementing new and creative ideas that are backed by research;
• Vision of the library as a focus for and/or supporter of change;
• The belief that individual actions can have a profound and positive impact in the scholarly communication field.

A SPARC Innovator can be an individual, a group of people, an institution, or another group that has been active in the areas listed above. Their actions may be broadly defined and may include online activity (i.e., postings on listservs and Web sites); on-campus programs and conferences; writing and editing (i.e., articles and books); promoting awareness and activism among others; and creating technologies and/or programs. There is no monetary award for SPARC Innovators.

For further information, please see the SPARC Web site at http://www.arl.org/sparc/.