New NIH publication policy

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

NIH News

NIH Office of the Director (OD)
http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 3, 2005

CONTACTS:
Don Ralbovsky
OD Office of Communications and Public Liaison
301-496-5787

NIH CALLS ON SCIENTISTS TO SPEED PUBLIC RELEASE OF RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS
Online Archive Will Make Articles Accessible to the Public

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today a new policy
designed to accelerate the public's access to published articles resulting
from NIH-funded research. The policy - the first of its kind for NIH -
calls on scientists to release to the public manuscripts from research
supported by NIH as soon as possible, and within 12 months of final
publication.

These peer-reviewed, NIH-funded research publications will be available in
a Web-based archive to be managed by the National Library of Medicine
(NLM), a component of NIH. The online archive will increase the public's
access to health- related publications at a time when demand for such
information is on a steady rise.

"With the rapid growth in the public's use of the Internet, NIH must take
a leadership role in making available to the public the research that we
support," said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "While this new policy
is voluntary, we are strongly encouraging all NIH-supported researchers to
release their published manuscripts as soon as possible for the benefit of
the public. Scientists have a right to see the results of their work
disseminated as quickly and broadly as possible, and NIH is committed to
helping our scientists exercise this right. We urge publishers to work
closely with authors in implementing this policy."

"In developing this policy, we made a concerted effort to balance the
importance of this archive to NIH's public health mission, with the need
to provide flexibility for authors, their institutions, and publishers in
those cases where immediate release is not possible," Zerhouni added. "NIH
recognizes the importance of preserving quality peer review and the
viability of a diversity of publishing models. Nevertheless, we expect
that only in limited cases will authors deem it necessary to select the
longest delay period."

The NIH policy will achieve several important goals, including:

(1) creating a stable archive of peer-reviewed research publications
resulting from NIH-funded studies to ensure the permanent preservation of
these vital research findings;

(2) securing a searchable compendium of these research publications that
NIH and its awardees can use to manage more efficiently and to understand
better their research portfolios, monitor scientific productivity, and,
ultimately, help set research priorities; and

(3) making published results of NIH-funded research more readily
accessible to the public, health care providers, educators, and
scientists.

Beginning May 2, 2005, the policy requests that NIH-funded scientists
submit an electronic version of the author's final manuscript, upon
acceptance for publication, resulting from research supported in whole or
in part by NIH. The author's final manuscript is defined as the final
version accepted for journal publication, and includes all modifications
from the publishing peer review process.

The policy gives authors the flexibility to designate a specific time
frame for public release - ranging from immediate public access after
final publication to a 12 month delay - when they submit their manuscripts
to NIH. Authors are strongly encouraged to exercise their right to specify
that their articles will be publicly available through PubMed Central
(PMC) as soon as possible.

PMC (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov), a part of the NIH's National
Library of Medicine (NLM), is the agency's digital repository of
full-text, peer-reviewed biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research
journals. It is a publicly-accessible, stable, permanent, and searchable
electronic archive.

The release of this policy follows months of intensive deliberations with
representatives of patient and scientific organizations, researchers, and
publishers. NIH posted the draft policy for public comment in September,
and received and reviewed over 6,000 public comments.

As part of on-going efforts to implement this new policy, NIH plans to
establish a Public Access Advisory Working Group, as a subgroup of the
NLM's Board of Regents. The Working Group will include representatives of
the patient advocacy, scientific, library, and publishing communities, and
will provide advice on implementation issues and assess progress in
meeting the new policy's stated goals.

Additional information on the new policy and related documents, including
a "Questions and Answers" fact sheet, can be found at:
<http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm>.

The NIH comprises the Office of the Director and 27 Institutes and
Centers. The Office of the Director is the central office at NIH, and is
responsible for setting policy for NIH and for planning, managing, and
coordinating the programs and activities of all the NIH components. The
NIH, the Nation's medical research agency, is a component of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary Federal agency
for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical
research, and investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both
common and rare diseases. For more information, visit
<http://www.nih.gov>.

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This NIH News Release is available online at:
http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/feb2005/od-03.htm.