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.