BioMed Central Announces OA Publishing Agreement with HHMI

[<Charlotte.Webber@biomedcentral.com>]

BioMed Central Announces Open Access Publishing Agreement with 
HHMI

HMMI to centrally fund publications by its researchers in BioMed 
Central's open access journals

LONDON and CHEVY CHASE, MD, August, 20, 2007--BioMed Central, the 
world's largest publisher of open access scientific journals, and 
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) today announced a 
membership agreement under which HHMI will pay the article 
processing charges for all research published by HHMI 
investigators in BioMed Central journals. Articles published 
under this agreement will be made immediately and freely 
available on the web in their final published form, and will be 
deposited in international archives including PubMed Central 
(PMC). The agreement between HHMI and BioMed Central takes effect 
for articles submitted after September 1, 2007.

This agreement complements HHMI's recently announced open access 
policy, which requires that the results of research funded by the 
Institute must be deposited in PubMed Central, the National 
Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and 
life sciences journal literature, not more than six months after 
publication.

"BioMed Central is pleased to partner with HHMI, helping it to 
maximize the impact and visibility of the research it funds by 
encouraging open access publication," said Dr. Matt Cockerill, 
publisher of BioMed Central. "Many HHMI researchers already 
publish in BioMed Central's journals, and this new agreement 
further emphasizes HHMI's commitment to making its scientists' 
research results freely available to the public and the 
international scientific community."

The BioMed Central postpay membership option chosen by HHMI 
offers the choice of quarterly or monthly invoicing, and provides 
detailed reporting on the research articles which have been 
published under the scheme.

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For more information on BioMed Central's Membership schemes, see: 
http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/membership. 
Alternatively, contact Charlotte Webber (Press Office) by phone 
+44 (0)20 7631 9980 or via email press@biomedcentral.com

About Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

HHMI is one of the world's largest philanthropies, with 
laboratories across the United States and grants programs 
throughout the world. The Institute is a nonprofit medical 
research organization that employs hundreds of leading biomedical 
scientists working at the forefront of their fields. In addition, 
through its grants program and other activities, HHMI is helping 
to enhance science education at all levels and maintain the vigor 
of biomedical science worldwide. HHMI's endowment at the end of 
the 2006 fiscal year was approximately $16.3 billion.

About BioMed Central

BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com) is an independent 
online publishing house committed to providing immediate access 
without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical 
research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that 
open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient 
communication of science. In addition to open-access original 
research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and other 
subscription-based content.

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