Open access: a must for Wellcome Trust researchers

["Kiley ,Mr Robert" <r.kiley@wellcome.ac.uk>]

The Wellcome Trust has become the first scientific research funder to
insist that papers emanating from its grant awards are placed in an open
access repository.

>From the 1st October 2005 it will become a condition of funding, that
papers will have to be posted on PubMed Central (PMC)- the free-to access,
life sciences archive developed by the National Institutes of Health - and
made accessible within 6 months of publication. To facilitate this, the
Wellcome Trust has - with the help of NIH - established a manuscript
submission system, through which papers accepted for publication in a
peer-reviewed journal can be deposited in PMC.

>From the 1st October next year all existing Trust grant holders will have
to deposit future papers into PubMed Central. This delay will allow
existing grant holders time to adjust to the new policy and let us know
what problems - if any - they may experience, affording us time to
overcome them. During this time the Trust, working in partnership with
other UK life sciences funders, plans to establish a UK version of PubMed

This latest move comes as part of a drive from the UK's biggest medical
research charity to push forward open access publication of scientific
literature, making findings freely available to those who want to see
them.

The Wellcome Trust is the UK's biggest non-governmental funder of
biomedical research, spending �400 million a year. The work it funds
results in around 3,500 papers being published annually.

Dr Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, said:

"Digital archives such as PubMed Central add enormous value to research.
Everyone, everywhere will be able to read the results of the research that
we fund. PubMed Central provides a link from research to other papers and
sources of data, and greatly improves the power and efficiency of
research.

"Digital archives are only as good as the information stored in them.
That's why we feel it's important to encourage our researchers along this
path - one I hope others will follow."

Further details can be found at: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/openaccess

Robert Kiley
Head of Systems Strategy & Acting Librarian
Wellcome Library.
210, Euston Road, London. NW1 2BE
Tel: 020 7611 8338; Fax: 020 7611 8726; mailto:r.kiley@wellcome.ac.uk
Library Web site: http://library.wellcome.ac.uk

The Wellcome Trust is a registered charity, no. 210183. Its sole Trustee
is the Wellcome Trust Limited, a company registered in England, no
2711000, whose registered office is 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE.