[OAI-eprints] Critique of PSP/AAP Critique of NIH Proposal

[Thomas Krichel]

  Stevan Harnad writes

> The public comment period on the NIH proposal ends
> on November 16, 2004. If you agree with this critique
> (or if you don't!) please let NIH know, using the form at
> http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/public_access/add.htm 
> or e-mail your comments to PublicAccess at nih.gov

  On that matter, see also the included copy of a mail
  by Harold Varmus.


  Cheers,

  Thomas Krichel                      mailto:krichel at openlib.org
                                 http://openlib.org/home/krichel
                             RePEc:per:1965-06-05:thomas_krichel

From:         Harold Varmus <haroldvarmus at plos.org>
Subject:      URGENT  support for NIH public access policy


Dear Open Access Supporter,
 
On September 3, 2004 the NIH posted for comment an "Enhanced Public 
Access Policy." This policy would require the recipients of NIH 
research

grants to provide to the National Library of Medicine a digital copy of 

the final accepted manuscript (or the published version itself) of 
every

published report resulting from NIH-funded research, so that the 
research results can be made freely available to scientists and the 
public through PubMed Central within six months of publication.
 
We are writing now to urge you to submit a comment in support of this 
proposal right away.   The deadline for comments is just a few days 
away

- November 16th.
 
The text of the proposal is available at:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-04-064.html
<http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-04-064.html> 
 
You can post comments here: 
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/public_access/add.htm
<http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/public_access/add.htm> 
 
A powerful lobby of publishers and scientific societies is trying to 
block this plan.  They claim that this is an unwarranted government 
intrusion on their business practices.  In fact, the NIH policy has no 
authority over publishers - its rules apply only to the scientists who 
voluntarily accept grants from the NIH. The publishers remain free to 
operate their businesses as they always have and to compete in the free 

market to provide the best service and value to their authors and 
readers.  But the publishers are wrong in arguing that they are 
entitled

to monopoly control over access to the results of research that 
American

taxpayers have paid for. On the contrary, the taxpayers who fund the 
research, and the scientists who carry it out, have every right to ask 
the grant recipients to provide open access to the published results. 
And they have every right to expect that the benefits of the research 
will be amplified by making it freely and widely available for others 
to

use and to build on.
 
Let the NIH know that you support this policy proposal. Even better 
would be to tell the NIH that you would prefer an even stronger policy 
that requires full and immediate open access to all papers resulting 
from NIH-funded research. It is important that the NIH and other 
policymakers understand that this is not (as some publishers would have 

them believe) a radical proposal destined to destroy scientific 
publishing, but a thoughtful compromise that balances the desire for 
better access with the commercial interests of scientific publishers.
 
More information about the policy is available at 
http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm
<http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm> 
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/ <http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/> 
 
 
Notable statements of support for the plan include:

An open letter to the US Congress signed by 25 Nobel Laureates: 
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/bof.html
<http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/bof.html> 

The Council of the National Academy of Sciences: 
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/s09162004?OpenDocument
<http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/s09162004?OpenDocument>


 
Please let us know if you have any questions.
 
Harold Varmus
Patrick Brown
Michael Eisen