RE: NIH Public Access Policy: is the funding for full OA already there?

[Heather Morrison <heatherm@eln.bc.ca>]

In response to this excerpt from my post:

"An NIH-funded article that is openly accessible avoids costs for 
future NIH researchers building on what has already been learned, 
for example."

Ian Russell asked:

> What costs are avoided and how?  I've no idea of the mechanism 
> that you are suggesting for this - can you point us at a study 
> demonstrating how this increase in productivity comes about and 
> quantifying the savings?
One example of how this works:  once an NIH-funded article is OA, 
is it then freely available to other NIH researchers, potential 
researchers, and grant reviewers.  This means that for this 
literature, there will be no need for ILL, document delivery, or 
pay- per-view fees.

I have explored the topic of savings from the perspective of the 
granting agency per se, in my blogpost, Open Access:  to Leverage 
the Research Dollar, at: 
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2006/04/open-access-to-leverage- 
research.html

Another way to look at what is currently happening:

NIH pays for the research.

NIH frequently contributes to publication expenses (e.g. page 
charges), to the tune of $30 million or an average of $500 per 
NIH- funded research article.

NIH also contributes to the publication system through "indirect 
costs", in the form of subscriptions and site licenses.  If 
anyone has this information, I would be very interested in 
hearing it.

After paying for the research and contributing very substantially 
to the costs of publication, NIH and its funders (the US 
taxpayer) do not have access to NIH-funded research, with the 
exception of the small percentage of authors and publishers who 
are participating in the NIH Public Access program without the 
requirement policy.

To answer another question, for citations and details on my 
original post, please see my blogspot, NIH Public Access Policy: 
is the funding for full OA already there?, at: 
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com/2007/08/nih-public-access-policy- 
is-funding-for.html

Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the author alone, 
and does not reflect the opinion or policy of BC Electronic 
Library Network or Simon Fraser University Library.

Heather Morrison, MLIS
The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics
http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com