RE: NIH Public Access Mandate Passes Senate

["Leah Krevit" <leah.krevit@exch.library.tmc.edu>]

[ANN'S note:  Thanks to all who clarified exactly what the policy 
would require.  I've long wondered why these government agencies 
are not creating their own publicly accessible Web sites wherein 
the reports of grantees are made available.  Those of us who get 
federal grants spend *a lot* of time preparing the *required* 
ongoing and final reports of our research and progress.  The 
reports go ... where?  Into filing cabinets or now electronic 
file folders, and are rarely findable.  Shouldn't federal 
agencies mount grantee reports for the public shortly after 
filing?  The agencies would thus be providing appropriate access, 
authors would have a say over where (Web sites, journals, 
repositories) and in what form their papers are published.  And, 
publishers' value added services would either find a market or 
not -- they would stand or fall on their merits as the content 
would already be available from the funding agencies. Don't shoot 
me now...]

Ann, Here is the language, I think:

> Under a mandatory policy, NIH-funded researchers will be 
> required to deposit copies of eligible manuscripts into the 
> National Library of Medicine's online database, PubMed Central. 
> Articles will be made publicly available no later than 12 
> months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

The intention is for the published article to be made available 
publicly within one year.

My understanding is that other reports, pre-prints, etc. are not 
to be reposited in PubMed Central. I guess we will know more once 
the bill becomes law. If it does.

You can read the existing requirements of the NIH Public Access 
Policy here:  http://publicaccess.nih.gov/

The language there is:

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Policy on Enhancing 
Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded 
Research (Public Access Policy), which took effect on May 2, 
2005, requests and strongly encourages all investigators to make 
their NIH-funded peer-reviewed, author's final manuscript 
available to other researchers and the public through the NIH 
National Library of Medicine's (NLM) PubMed Central (PMC) 
immediately after the final date of journal publication.

Best. Leah

Leah Krevit, M.L.I.S.
Associate Director
Collections Management
Houston Academy of Medicine -
Texas Medical Center Library
Houston TX 77030-2809
leah.krevit@exch.library.tmc.edu