Andrew Albanese, Battle Over NIH Research Steps Up, Library Journal, October 1, 2004. Excerpt: "Association of American Publishers (AAP) president Patricia Schroeder has sent a letter to Congress, as have a trio of AAP members. The letter from three members of the AAP's Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division raised tough questions and legitimate concerns about how the NIH policy would function practically, including whether the policy would be an 'unfunded mandate' or whether Congress would make money available to ensure compliance. It also attacked the NIH's core argument: that taxpayers should have access to taxpayer-funded research. Meanwhile, a group of academic libraries and major library organizations joined a coalition to support open access to NIH-funded research. The Alliance for Taxpayer Access (ATA) is comprised of libraries and patient and health policy advocates (www.arl.org/ata). Also, 25 Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter to Congress supporting the plan. Four library groups also wrote to NIH director Elias Zerhouni to voice their support....The House Appropriations Committee has given the NIH until December to present a plan for offering open access to NIH-funded research. However, a draft statement from Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) said lawmakers intend for the NIH to 'bring the various stakeholders to the table and work out a policy on more open access to biomedical research information, without specifying exactly which model will be adopted.' "
(PS: The last sentence does not reflect subsequent events. The statement from Rep. Regula quoted here was released in late July, before the House vote on September 9 and before Regula's floor colloquy with Rep. Istook on September 8. The House overwhelmingly adopted the original NIH recommendation, without amendment, and Regula's colloquy did not follow the July draft. Instead, it said that the NIH plan released on September 3 already "balances the interests" of stakeholders and praised it as "consistent with the language in our bill".)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/01/2004 09:36:00 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.
