Open Access for Quebec FRSQ funded health research publications

The Quebec health research fund (Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ)) has mandated all full or partially funded projects to publish their research outputs ("peer reviewed publications") to an open access site not less than 6 months after publication. This policy went into effect January 1 2009.

While this is excellent news, it would have been even better news if the policy took a broader view of research outputs and included research data in its open access policy, mandating research data management and release, similar to the policies of CIHR, Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR), NIH, Genome Canada, UK Research Councils, the Australian government, the European Research Council (ERC) and others. The benefits of sharing research data - especially health data - are well documented.

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