RE: STM comments on U. S. National Institutes of Health Unfunded Mandate

["Hunsucker, R.L." <R.L.Hunsucker@uva.nl>]

Ahem:

> . . . their primary mission of maximizing the dissemination of 
> knowledge through economically self-sustaining business models 
> . . .

OK, since we're singing the praises here of "an evidence-based 
approach" what is the evidence that such is truly the "primary 
mission" of (at least the largest players in) the STM-club ?

I'm all ears.

- L. Hunsucker

( And are the shareholders aware of this, I wonder ? )

________________________________

From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu on behalf of Janice Kuta
Sent: Sat 1/5/2008 3:45 AM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: STM comments on U. S. National Institutes of Health Unfunded 
Mandate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STM comments on U. S. National Institutes of Health Unfunded Mandate

OXFORD, UK, 4 JANUARY 2008 - STM today expressed disappointment
with the recent passage of legislation in the United States. This
legislation (the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R.
2764)) includes provisions directing the National Institutes of
Health to mandate that investigators who are supported by grants
from the National Institutes of Health must deposit their
manuscripts directly into the National Library of Medicine's
PubMed Central database no later than 12 months after the
official date of publication.

The legislation neither provides compensation for the added-value
of services that these manuscripts have received from publishers
nor does it earmark funds to ensure the economic sustainability
of the broad and systematic archiving this sort of project
requires. It also undermines a key intellectual property right
known as copyright - long a cornerstone used to foster creativity
and innovation.

STM believes that this legislation establishes an unfunded
government mandate with an unknown impact on the advancement of
science and puts at risk a system which has enabled more research
to be available to more scientists in more countries than at any
point in the history of science.

[SNIP]