In a move aimed at boosting access to cutting-edge scientific and medical research, both the U.S. House and Senate have passed a bill that would require research funded by the National Institutes of Health be made freely available to the public one year after it is published – something scientific journal publishers have resisted for years.
With widespread support from library and research organizations, Congress mandated that scientists funded by NIH, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, deposit their manuscripts into NIH’s public database. Currently, much of the research can only be found in often-pricey scientific journals.
“This research is funded by the public, and right now the public doesn’t have adequate access to it,” said Heather Joseph, executive director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, which has long advocated for such legislation.
“It should be able to be used and built on by other scientists,” she said. “It accelerates the pace of innovation and discoveries and can help lead to the translation of the research into eventual cures for diseases.”
While a few publishers voluntarily make their journal articles available for free, many charge for the publications.
Others oppose the legislation, arguing that the government is interfering in a private business that provides a valuable service to the scientific community.
“They’re letting the journal publisher provide the gatekeeper function of looking through all of these manuscripts and weeding out the ones that have no scientific value,” said Allan Adler, vice president for legal and government affairs for the Association of American Publishers. “That process is not without cost for the publisher.”
The provision was attached to Congress’ annual HHS, Labor and Education spending bills, something Adler takes issue with.
“The simple fact of the matter is there has not been any kind of hearing, study or evidentiary record established on what the effect of this legislation would be on the publishing industry, and [our] arguments have not had a good forum because they were attached to an appropriations bill,” he said.
The House and Senate are expected to meet Thursday to reconcile their versions of the spending bill, and the NIH provision looks poised to survive the process despite continued lobbying by the publishing industry, congressional sources said.
President Bush has threatened to veto the bill, along with several other congressional spending bills that set funding levels above those outlined in his budgetary goals.
