Jennifer, This is great news! Congratulations and thanks, on behalf of Students For Free Culture for all your and ATA's work on it.
I wore my PLoS shirt today in celebration. F On 10/25/07, Jennifer McLennan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Sorry for the delay, all. I've just subscribed. Please see news from > Wednesday below —Jennifer > > For immediate release > October 24, 2007 > > Contact: > Jennifer McLennan > jennifer [at] arl [dot] org > (202) 296-2296 ext. 121 > > Mandate for Public Access to NIH-Funded Research Poised to Become Law > > Full U.S. Senate Approves Bill Containing Support for Access To > Taxpayer-Funded Research > > Washington, D.C. – October 24, 2007 - The U.S. Senate last night approved > the FY2008 Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Bill (S.1710), > including a provision that directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) > to strengthen its Public Access Policy by requiring rather than requesting > participation by researchers. The bill will now be reconciled with the House > Appropriations Bill, which contains a similar provision, in another step > toward support for public access to publicly funded research becoming United > States law. > > "Last night's Senate action is a milestone victory for public access to > taxpayer-funded research," said Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC > (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, a founding > member of the ATA). "This policy sets the stage for researchers, patients, > and the general public to benefit in new and important ways from our > collective investment in the critical biomedical research conducted by the > NIH." > > Under a mandatory policy, NIH-funded researchers will be required to > deposit copies of eligible manuscripts into the National Library of > Medicine's online database, PubMed Central. Articles will be made publicly > available no later than 12 months after publication in a peer-reviewed > journal. > > The current NIH Public Access Policy, first implemented in 2005, is a > voluntary measure and has resulted in a deposit rate of less than 5% by > individual investigators. The advance to a mandatory policy is the result of > more than two years of monitoring and evaluation by the NIH, Congress, and > the community. > > "We thank our Senators for taking action on this important issue," said > Pat Furlong, Founding President and CEO of Parent Project Muscular > Dystrophy. "This level of access to NIH-funded research will impact the > disease process in novel ways, improving the ability of scientists to > advance therapies and enabling patients and their advocates to participate > more effectively. The advance is timely, much-needed, and – we anticipate – > an indication of increasingly enhanced access in future." > > "American businesses will benefit tremendously from improved access to NIH > research," said William Kovacs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president > for environment, technology and regulatory affairs. "The Chamber encourages > the free and timely dissemination of scientific knowledge produced by the > NIH as it will improve both the public and industry's ability to become > better informed on developments that impact them – and on opportunities for > innovation." The Chamber is the world's largest business federation, > representing more than three million businesses of every size, sector, and > region. > > > "We welcome the NIH policy being made mandatory and thank Congress for > backing this important step," said Gary Ward, Treasurer of the American > Society for Cell Biology (ASCB). "Free and timely public access to > scientific literature is necessary to ensure that new discoveries are made > as quickly as feasible. It's the right thing to do, given that taxpayers > fund this research." The ASCB represents 11,000 members and publishes the > highly ranked peer-reviewed journal, Molecular Biology of the Cell. > > Joseph added, "On behalf of the taxpayers, patients, researchers, > students, libraries, universities, and businesses that pressed this bill > forward with their support over the past two years, the ATA thanks Congress > for throwing its weight behind the success of taxpayer access to > taxpayer-funded research." > > Negotiators from the House and Senate are expected to meet to reconcile > their respective bills this fall. The final, consolidated bill will have to > pass the House and the Senate before being delivered to the President at the > end of the year. > > ### > > The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a coalition of patient, academic, > research, and publishing organizations that supports open public access to > the results of federally funded research. The Alliance was formed in 2004 to > urge that peer-reviewed articles stemming from taxpayer-funded research > become fully accessible and available online at no extra cost to the > American public. Details on the ATA may be found at > http://www.taxpayeraccess.org. > > > -------------------------- > Jennifer McLennan > Director of Communications > SPARC > (The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition) > http://www.arl.org/sparc > (202) 296-2296 ext 121 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >
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