Advocacy Archive

September 8, 2015

Senator Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader,U.S. Senate
Russell Building—S230
1st and C Streets NE
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator McConnell:

As the Senate reconvenes to consider and pass a Continuing Resolution for the Federal Government, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents urges you and your colleagues to consider “The Centrality and Importance of Behavioral and Social Sciences” to the welfare of the United States. We have attached CSSP’s policy statement. CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines through its member societies and federations, whose combined membership is over 1 million.

Robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences is critically important to advances in scientific and medical areas—and has profound economic implications for our nation. Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported the significance of behavioral research in ensuring that patients take their medication (see Washington Post, September 5, “Researchers are trying again to help you take your medicine”, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-are-trying-again-to-help-you-take-your-medicine/2015/09/05/6f26d896-525d-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html). The article points out that $289 billion is spent annually on needless hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and other costs for people who don’t follow drug regimens prescribed for them, but behavioral economic research funded by the Federal Government has demonstrated new and inexpensive ways to get patients to comply.

As the attached policy statement indicates, psychology and the social sciences have been identified as two of seven hub sciences which are central connectors to all other sciences. The other hub sciences are chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, medicine, and physics. Examples abound of instances in which behavioral and social sciences have helped in prevention and management of chronic disease, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency. Please ensure that robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences are included in the CR and future appropriations bills.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Madeleine Jacobs
President & CEO
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Cc: Brian McGuire

September 8, 2015

Senator Harry Reid
Minority Leader, U.S. Senate
Hart Senate Office Building 522
2nd and C Streets NE
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Reid:

As the Senate reconvenes to consider and pass a Continuing Resolution for the Federal Government, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents urges you and your colleagues to consider “The Centrality and Importance of Behavioral and Social Sciences” to the welfare of the United States. We have attached CSSP’s policy statement. CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines through its member societies and federations, whose combined membership is over 1 million.

Robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences is critically important to advances in scientific and medical areas—and has profound economic implications for our nation. Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported the significance of behavioral research in ensuring that patients take their medication (see Washington Post, September 5, “Researchers are trying again to help you take your medicine”, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-are-trying-again-to-help-you-take-your-medicine/2015/09/05/6f26d896-525d-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html). The article points out that $289 billion is spent annually on needless hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and other costs for people who don’t follow drug regimens prescribed for them, but behavioral economic research funded by the Federal Government has demonstrated new and inexpensive ways to get patients to comply.

As the attached policy statement indicates, psychology and the social sciences have been identified as two of seven hub sciences which are central connectors to all other sciences. The other hub sciences are chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, medicine, and physics. Examples abound of instances in which behavioral and social sciences have helped in prevention and management of chronic disease, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency. Please ensure that robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences are included in the CR and future appropriations bills.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Madeleine Jacobs
President & CEO
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Cc: David Krone

September 8, 2015

Senator Barbara A. Mikulski
Ranking Member, Senate Appropriations Committee
Hart Senate Office Building, 503
2nd and C. Streets NE
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Mikulski:

As the Senate reconvenes to consider and pass a Continuing Resolution for the Federal Government, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents urges you and your colleagues to consider “The Centrality and Importance of Behavioral and Social Sciences” to the welfare of the United States. We have attached CSSP’s policy statement. CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines through its member societies and federations, whose combined membership is over 1 million.

Robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences is critically important to advances in scientific and medical areas—and has profound economic implications for our nation. Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported the significance of behavioral research in ensuring that patients take their medication (see Washington Post, September 5, “Researchers are trying again to help you take your medicine”, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-are-trying-again-to-help-you-take-your-medicine/2015/09/05/6f26d896-525d-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html). The article points out that $289 billion is spent annually on needless hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and other costs for people who don’t follow drug regimens prescribed for them, but behavioral economic research funded by the Federal Government has demonstrated new and inexpensive ways to get patients to comply.

As the attached policy statement indicates, psychology and the social sciences have been identified as two of seven hub sciences which are central connectors to all other sciences. The other hub sciences are chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, medicine, and physics. Examples abound of instances in which behavioral and social sciences have helped in prevention and management of chronic disease, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency. Please ensure that robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences are included in the CR and future appropriations bills.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Madeleine Jacobs
President & CEO
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Cc: Shannon Kula

September 8, 2015

Senator Thad Cochran
Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
Dirksen Senate Office Building 113
1st and C Streets NE
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Cochran:

As the Senate reconvenes to consider and pass a Continuing Resolution for the Federal Government, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents urges you and your colleagues to consider “The Centrality and Importance of Behavioral and Social Sciences” to the welfare of the United States. We have attached CSSP’s policy statement. CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines through its member societies and federations, whose combined membership is over 1 million.

Robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences is critically important to advances in scientific and medical areas—and has profound economic implications for our nation. Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported the significance of behavioral research in ensuring that patients take their medication (see Washington Post, September 5, “Researchers are trying again to help you take your medicine”, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-are-trying-again-to-help-you-take-your-medicine/2015/09/05/6f26d896-525d-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html). The article points out that $289 billion is spent annually on needless hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and other costs for people who don’t follow drug regimens prescribed for them, but behavioral economic research funded by the Federal Government has demonstrated new and inexpensive ways to get patients to comply.

As the attached policy statement indicates, psychology and the social sciences have been identified as two of seven hub sciences which are central connectors to all other sciences. The other hub sciences are chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, medicine, and physics. Examples abound of instances in which behavioral and social sciences have helped in prevention and management of chronic disease, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency. Please ensure that robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences are included in the CR and future appropriations bills.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Madeleine Jacobs
President & CEO
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Cc: Keith Heard

September 8, 2015

Representative John A. Boehner
Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
Longworth House Office Building 1011
Independence and New Jersey Avenues SE
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Speaker Boehner:

As the Senate reconvenes to consider and pass a Continuing Resolution for the Federal Government, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents urges you and your colleagues to consider “The Centrality and Importance of Behavioral and Social Sciences” to the welfare of the United States. We have attached CSSP’s policy statement. CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines through its member societies and federations, whose combined membership is over 1 million.

Robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences is critically important to advances in scientific and medical areas—and has profound economic implications for our nation. Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported the significance of behavioral research in ensuring that patients take their medication (see Washington Post, September 5, “Researchers are trying again to help you take your medicine”, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-are-trying-again-to-help-you-take-your-medicine/2015/09/05/6f26d896-525d-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html). The article points out that $289 billion is spent annually on needless hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and other costs for people who don’t follow drug regimens prescribed for them, but behavioral economic research funded by the Federal Government has demonstrated new and inexpensive ways to get patients to comply.

As the attached policy statement indicates, psychology and the social sciences have been identified as two of seven hub sciences which are central connectors to all other sciences. The other hub sciences are chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, medicine, and physics. Examples abound of instances in which behavioral and social sciences have helped in prevention and management of chronic disease, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency. Please ensure that robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences are included in the CR and future appropriations bills.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Madeleine Jacobs
President & CEO
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Cc: Ryan Day

September 8, 2015

Representative Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader, U.S. House of Representatives
Cannon House Office Building 233
1st Street and Independence Avenue SE
Washington, D.C 20515

Dear Representative Pelosi:

As the Senate reconvenes to consider and pass a Continuing Resolution for the Federal Government, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents urges you and your colleagues to consider “The Centrality and Importance of Behavioral and Social Sciences” to the welfare of the United States. We have attached CSSP’s policy statement. CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines through its member societies and federations, whose combined membership is over 1 million.

Robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences is critically important to advances in scientific and medical areas—and has profound economic implications for our nation. Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported the significance of behavioral research in ensuring that patients take their medication (see Washington Post, September 5, “Researchers are trying again to help you take your medicine”, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-are-trying-again-to-help-you-take-your-medicine/2015/09/05/6f26d896-525d-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html). The article points out that $289 billion is spent annually on needless hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and other costs for people who don’t follow drug regimens prescribed for them, but behavioral economic research funded by the Federal Government has demonstrated new and inexpensive ways to get patients to comply.

As the attached policy statement indicates, psychology and the social sciences have been identified as two of seven hub sciences which are central connectors to all other sciences. The other hub sciences are chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, medicine, and physics. Examples abound of instances in which behavioral and social sciences have helped in prevention and management of chronic disease, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency. Please ensure that robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences are included in the CR and future appropriations bills.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Madeleine Jacobs
President & CEO
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Cc: Robert Edmonson

September 8, 2015

Representative Harold Rogers
Chair, House Appropriations Committee
Rayburn House Office Building Room 2406
Independence Avenue and South Capitol Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Rogers:

As the Senate reconvenes to consider and pass a Continuing Resolution for the Federal Government, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents urges you and your colleagues to consider “The Centrality and Importance of Behavioral and Social Sciences” to the welfare of the United States. We have attached CSSP’s policy statement. CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines through its member societies and federations, whose combined membership is over 1 million.

Robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences is critically important to advances in scientific and medical areas—and has profound economic implications for our nation. Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported the significance of behavioral research in ensuring that patients take their medication (see Washington Post, September 5, “Researchers are trying again to help you take your medicine”, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-are-trying-again-to-help-you-take-your-medicine/2015/09/05/6f26d896-525d-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html). The article points out that $289 billion is spent annually on needless hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and other costs for people who don’t follow drug regimens prescribed for them, but behavioral economic research funded by the Federal Government has demonstrated new and inexpensive ways to get patients to comply.

As the attached policy statement indicates, psychology and the social sciences have been identified as two of seven hub sciences which are central connectors to all other sciences. The other hub sciences are chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, medicine, and physics. Examples abound of instances in which behavioral and social sciences have helped in prevention and management of chronic disease, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency. Please ensure that robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences are included in the CR and future appropriations bills.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Madeleine Jacobs
President & CEO
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Cc: Megan O’Donnell Bell

September 8, 2015

Representative Nita M. Lowey
Ranking Member, House Appropriations Committee
Rayburn House Office Building Room 2365
Independence Avenue and South Capitol Street SW
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Representative Lowey:

As the Senate reconvenes to consider and pass a Continuing Resolution for the Federal Government, the Council of Scientific Society Presidents urges you and your colleagues to consider “The Centrality and Importance of Behavioral and Social Sciences” to the welfare of the United States. We have attached CSSP’s policy statement. CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines through its member societies and federations, whose combined membership is over 1 million.

Robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences is critically important to advances in scientific and medical areas—and has profound economic implications for our nation. Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported the significance of behavioral research in ensuring that patients take their medication (see Washington Post, September 5, “Researchers are trying again to help you take your medicine”, http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/researchers-are-trying-again-to-help-you-take-your-medicine/2015/09/05/6f26d896-525d-11e5-9812-92d5948a40f8_story.html). The article points out that $289 billion is spent annually on needless hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and other costs for people who don’t follow drug regimens prescribed for them, but behavioral economic research funded by the Federal Government has demonstrated new and inexpensive ways to get patients to comply.

As the attached policy statement indicates, psychology and the social sciences have been identified as two of seven hub sciences which are central connectors to all other sciences. The other hub sciences are chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, medicine, and physics. Examples abound of instances in which behavioral and social sciences have helped in prevention and management of chronic disease, cybersecurity, and energy efficiency. Please ensure that robust funding of the behavioral and social sciences are included in the CR and future appropriations bills.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Madeleine Jacobs
President & CEO
Council of Scientific Society Presidents

Cc: Elizabeth Stanley

July 27, 2015

Senator Thomas R. Carper
Ranking Member, Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Carper:

I am writing to you on behalf of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) to express our support for the Johnson-Carper substitute amendment to S. 779, Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2015. We appreciate that you were open to changes and sought the views of a large community. As I have previously written on July 10, CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines, from the physical and biological sciences through the behavioral and social sciences, via our several dozen member societies and federations. CSSP’s member societies represent more than a million scientists and engineers.

We are in support of the following provisions of the legislation: The 12-month embargo period, with an evidence-based petition process to allow for revising the embargo period for a specific field of science, balancing sustainable peer review and public access. From the perspective of CSSP, anything less than 12 months would severely impair scientific societies’ ability to offer irreplaceable services that uniquely enhance the strength of the scientific enterprise of the United States. We also appreciate that the amendment authorizes federal agencies to determine the most efficient and cost-effective means to establish and maintain their public access capabilities, including how best to manage their respective article and data repositories.

We share the concerns of many of our publishing colleagues around the language in Section 4(f) on the GAO reporting mechanism. In particular, we suggest that Section 4(f), or the accompanying committee report, be strengthened to empower GAO to evaluate the cost effectiveness of federal agency compliance costs of maintaining and operating public access capabilities, and assess the impact of the bill’s implementation on IP rights holders. The requirements related to productive reuse and computational analysis could prove to be troublesome, and the current bill language appears to prejudge that a licensing solution would be called for, rather than GAO’s consideration of other available options. We believe these changes will improve taxpayer transparency of the legislation’s enactment.

We thank you for considering our views and those of the larger publishing community in crafting this legislation. Please let us know if you would like to talk further with us about our thoughts. You may reach me on my mobile (515) 231-5376.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair, Executive Board, CSSP

July 27, 2015

Senator Ron Johnson
Chair, Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Johnson:

I am writing to you on behalf of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) to express our support for the Johnson-Carper substitute amendment to S. 779, Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2015. We appreciate that you were open to changes and sought the views of a large community. As I have previously written on July 10, CSSP is a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines, from the physical and biological sciences through the behavioral and social sciences, via our several dozen member societies and federations. CSSP’s member societies represent more than a million scientists and engineers.

We are in support of the following provisions of the legislation: The 12-month embargo period, with an evidence-based petition process to allow for revising the embargo period for a specific field of science, balancing sustainable peer review and public access. From the perspective of CSSP, anything less than 12 months would severely impair scientific societies’ ability to offer irreplaceable services that uniquely enhance the strength of the scientific enterprise of the United States. We also appreciate that the amendment authorizes federal agencies to determine the most efficient and cost-effective means to establish and maintain their public access capabilities, including how best to manage their respective article and data repositories.

We share the concerns of many of our publishing colleagues around the language in Section 4(f) on the GAO reporting mechanism. In particular, we suggest that Section 4(f), or the accompanying committee report, be strengthened to empower GAO to evaluate the cost effectiveness of federal agency compliance costs of maintaining and operating public access capabilities, and assess the impact of the bill’s implementation on IP rights holders. The requirements related to productive reuse and computational analysis could prove to be troublesome, and the current bill language appears to prejudge that a licensing solution would be called for, rather than GAO’s consideration of other available options. We believe these changes will improve taxpayer transparency of the legislation’s enactment.

We thank you for considering our views and those of the larger publishing community in crafting this legislation. Please let us know if you would like to talk further with us about our thoughts. You may reach me on my mobile (515) 231-5376.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair, Executive Board, CSSP

July 10, 2015

Senator Thomas R. Carper
Ranking Member, Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Carper:

Thank you for the opportunity to present the views of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) via this letter. I am regrettably unable to be present at the Roundtable you are hosting today on S. 779, Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2015. I appreciate your seeking stakeholder opinion prior to acting on this legislation. I am the Chair of the Executive Board of CSSP. We are a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines, from the physical and biological sciences through the behavioral and social sciences, via our several dozen member societies and federations. CSSP’s member societies represent more than a million scientists and engineers.

1. 779 would impose a mandate that all journal articles reporting federally funded research be deposited for free access 6 months after publication. Publications in different fields of science recover the substantial publication and peer review costs over highly variable periods of time. A six month embargo therefore threatens the viability of the scientific enterprise in the United States and will adversely affect and undermine the scientific assistance science and the scientific societies provide to the American public.

We believe that the process outlined by OSTP in its February 2013 memo, built around a 12 month embargo with a process to amend that embargo to address the unique needs of different fields of science, is a better way to proceed. The OSTP memorandum and its process is the result of considerable interchange among federal agencies and publishers and, on behalf of the CSSP, I urge the committee to use this as the framework for any legislation. Anything less than 12 months would severely impair scientific societies’ ability to offer irreplaceable services that uniquely enhance the strength of the scientific enterprise of the United States.

In closing, CSSP members suggest that more flexibility in the embargo period will better enrich the science enterprise, without additional taxpayer contributions. Attached please find CSSP’s position on open access that offers additional insights on these ideas. Thank you for considering our views. Please call me any time on my mobile phone (515-231-5376) if I may offer any further information.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair, Executive Board, CSSP

July 10, 2015

Senator Ron Johnson
Chair, Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator Johnson:

Thank you for the opportunity to present the views of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) via this letter. I am regrettably unable to be present at the Roundtable you are hosting today on S. 779, Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2015. I appreciate your seeking stakeholder opinion prior to acting on this legislation. I am the Chair of the Executive Board of CSSP. We are a unique organization representing the breadth of science and engineering research disciplines, from the physical and biological sciences through the behavioral and social sciences, via our several dozen member societies and federations. CSSP’s member societies represent more than a million scientists and engineers.

1. 779 would impose a mandate that all journal articles reporting federally funded research be deposited for free access 6 months after publication. Publications in different fields of science recover the substantial publication and peer review costs over highly variable periods of time. A six month embargo therefore threatens the viability of the scientific enterprise in the United States and will adversely affect and undermine the scientific assistance science and the scientific societies provide to the American public.

We believe that the process outlined by OSTP in its February 2013 memo, built around a 12 month embargo with a process to amend that embargo to address the unique needs of different fields of science, is a better way to proceed. The OSTP memorandum and its process is the result of considerable interchange among federal agencies and publishers and, on behalf of the CSSP, I urge the committee to use this as the framework for any legislation. Anything less than 12 months would severely impair scientific societies’ ability to offer irreplaceable services that uniquely enhance the strength of the scientific enterprise of the United States.

In closing, CSSP members suggest that more flexibility in the embargo period will better enrich the science enterprise, without additional taxpayer contributions. Attached please find CSSP’s position on open access that offers additional insights on these ideas. Thank you for considering our views. Please call me any time on my mobile phone (515-231-5376) if I may offer any further information.

Sincerely,

John Downing
Chair, Executive Board, CSSP