COPYCENSE

"The National Institutes of Health has proposed a major policy change that would require all scientists who receive funding from the agency to make the results of their research available to the public for free.

"The proposal  would mark a significant departure from current practice, in which the scientific journals that publish those results retain control over that information.

"Pressure to make publicly financed research results more available to the public has been building for years but gained new momentum this summer with report language by the House Appropriations Committee.

"’The committee is very concerned that there is insufficient public access to reports and data resulting from NIH-funded research,’ it read. ‘This situation . . . is contrary to the best interests of the U.S. taxpayers who paid for this research.’"

Rick Weiss. NIH Proposes Free Access For Public to Research Data. WashingtonPost.com. Sept. 6, 2004.

See also:
Peter Suber. NIH Open-Access Plan Frequently Asked Questions. Sept. 6, 2004.

Susan Morrissey. NIH Weighs Open Access. Chemical & Engineering News. Sept. 6, 2004.

(Editor�s Note: The Post allows free access to their stories on the Web for 14 days before sending the stories to the paper�s fee-based Archives.)