NIH floats open-access plan amidst objections, an unsigned news story in Research Research for September 13, 2004. Excerpt: "Fundamental societal changes in information-gathering compelled the agency to start developing the policy, NIH Director Elias Zerhouni said at an August 30 meeting that brought together young investigators and professors, many of whom serve on scientific journal boards. A 'paradigm shift' on how the public seeks information, especially health-related data, is occurring, Zerhouni continued, reporting that the number of online 'hits' at the National Library of Medicine's Web-based database, PubMed Central, has experienced an exponential rise, as has the number of patients approaching physicians with information they have gathered from the Internet. That shift, paired with rising scientific journal subscription prices, has created an environment ripe for change, the director stated, and the agency and scientific community must find a 'sweet spot' where an agreeable policy is formed that does not interfere with the quality of published material and does not harm revenue-producing journals. 'We need scientists to be in favor of whatever we come up with [because] in the end of the day, it will be scientist who will vote with their feet,' Zerhouni said. 'The status quo is not an option any more.' "
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/22/2004 11:04:00 AM.
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.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
