Jocelyn Kaiser, Seeking Advice on 'Open Access,' NIH Gets an Earful, Science Magazine, August 6, 2004 (accessible only to subscribers). Excerpt: "The National Institutes of Health is forging ahead with plans to require that papers from NIH-funded research be made freely available.
Last week, in a hastily called meeting, NIH director Elias Zerhouni told journal publishers he is not happy with the 'status quo' and is under pressure from the public to expand access to research results. He got an earful from scientific societies worried that any mandatory plan will drive their journals under....Zerhouni held an invitation only meeting on 28 July with 44 participants, many from scientific societies, as well as
commercial and open-access journals. 'There really is a strong advocacy for this' from scientists and universities as well as patients, explains
NIH Office of Science Policy Director Lana Skirboll....Skirboll says NIH expects to hold at least one more meeting, this time with patient
groups, then post a proposal for comment in the NIH grants guide, probably by December. Even when the plan is final, it can be modified if it causes harm, she adds. 'Policies are not laws....Anything NIH puts in
place, we will evaluate.' "
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/06/2004 04:13:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
