In May 2012, a group of open-access activists formed the Access2Research initiative that went on to launch a petition to the White House to "require free access over the Internet to journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research".

In February 2013, he became one of the sponsors of the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act to expedite open access to taxpayer-funded research.

Access2Research is a 2012 United States-based campaign in which open access advocates appealed to the United States government to require that taxpayer-funded research be made available to the public under open licensing.

In May 2012, it was reported that Wales was advising the UK government on how to make taxpayer-funded academic research available on the internet at no cost.

The change was in part prompted by an online Whitehouse petition to "Require free access over the Internet to scientific journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research".

The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) is a bill that would mandate earlier public release of taxpayer-funded research.

On May 20, 2012, it launched a petition to the White House to "require free access over the Internet to journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research".

The NIH has a public access policy that says taxpayer-funded research must be freely accessible online.

That is why he submitted written comments in support of the NIH's proposal to make taxpayer-funded research accessible by the general public.

The bill contains provisions to prohibit open-access mandates for federally funded research and effectively revert the NIH's Public Access Policy that requires taxpayer-funded research to be freely accessible online.