Microsoft will aim to make all of its scientific research publicly accessible in a move to spread “the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible.” Since its formation in 1992, the research arm of Microsoft has authored or helped author many papers, but this research is often submitted to commercial journals.
Momentum continues to build behind the “open science movement,” propelling the debate over publication of scholarly works and the scientific process itself. Last week, Microsoft Research announced it was adopting a policy that allows it to retain a license for research submitted to conferences or publishers in order to post it to a freely accessible online site as well. And earlier this week, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson said it will release data from clinical trials, through an agreement with the Yale University Open Data Access Project.