The House Appropriations Committee took this official step, which strengthens the public access policy undertaken by NIH a year ago, as they approved the FY 2007 Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations measure. The NIH policy, currently voluntary, has resulted in researchers' deposit of less than five percent of available NIH-funded research. The House Appropriations bill with the new directive will now be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate will consider its Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill sometime this summer.
"This action is a clear signal from Congressional leaders that they are committed to advancing the cause of science and the public interest," said Heather Joseph, Executive Director of SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition, an ATA founding member). "The bill is a significant step in acknowledging the profound impact the Internet has on the conduct of scientific research and the need for this research to be shared as widely as possible."
The bill also stipulates a maximum 12-month window for authors to submit their peer-reviewed manuscripts. The ATA believes this lengthy timeframe will delay important research advances and the dissemination of information to stakeholders who rely on it. "We applaud the House Appropriations Committee for taking this tremendous stride forward," said Pat Furlong, Founding President & CEO of Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy. "For individuals and families struggling to stay abreast of scientific dev
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Contact: Jennifer Heffelfinger
jennifer@arl.org
202-247-6185
SPARC
15-Jun-2006