YOU paid for it, so you should be able to see it. On Sunday the US government said that all federally funded research results must be available for free online. The UK made a similar decision last year.

Most research papers are behind paywalls. Now all federal agencies that spend $100 million annually on research and development will have to make their results freely available by a specified time after initial publication. The US government suggests 12 months as a suitable delay. According to John Holdren, director of the US Office of Science and Technology Policy, this will improve access to information while still allowing publishers to charge for early access.

The movement towards open access has been accelerating. Last July the UK government announced that all publicly funded research will be available for free starting in 2014. Furthermore, 13,000 researchers are boycotting the academic publisher Elsevier – owned by the same company as New Scientist – in protest at its high prices.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Science free for all”