Digital Open Access to Publicly-Funded Research and National Security: A Review of the Status of Access to and a Framework for Evaluation of Security-Related Research Results

Abstract

Better access to government information about publicly-funded research has benefits for many groups of users including scholars, policymakers, and the general public. But can prevailing open access models for this type of documentation be extended to information related to national security and international relations? What factors affect open access to security-related information, and how can the public's right to know be balanced against legitimate security concerns? This article proposes a way forward, drawing on experiences with current open access models in publicly-funded biomedical research.