FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ASH SUPPORTS ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE CHAIR IN CALLING FOR CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT OF NIH OPEN ACCESS PROPOSAL
(WASHINGTON, November 15, 2004) – In a recent letter to National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias Zerhouni, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, asks NIH to provide the Committee with a copy of its plan to make published articles available online so that the Committee can review and comment on it. Chairman Barton states that many questions have been raised about how best to achieve the goal of increasing public access to the results of NIH-funded research.
“The American Society of Hematology (ASH) is pleased that Chairman Barton has called for congressional oversight of NIH’s open access policy. Chairman Barton’s interest in bringing the NIH proposal to his committee is a critical step in providing a more public forum to discuss the proposal and its impact on our organizations and federal research funding,” states Stanley Schrier, M.D., President of ASH, one of many nonprofit societies that have expressed concerns about the impact of an open access model and urged NIH to reconsider its proposal. “We are pleased that Chairman Barton and his staff have also expressed a willingness to work with us to develop a sound, voluntary plan.”
In September, NIH published a proposed policy, “Enhanced Public Access to NIH Research Information,” in the Federal Register. This policy would require that an author’s peer-reviewed draft of any published manuscript arising from research partially or fully funded by NIH be posted for free on the Internet within six months after publication. The comment period closes November 16, 2004.
As one of more than 50 nonprofit medical/scientific societies and publishers that endorsed the D.C. Principles for Free Access to Science (www.dcprinciples.org), a statement of commitment to providing free access and wide dissemination of published research findings, ASH has joined with other nonprofit societies that publish peer-reviewed scholarly journals to oppose the NIH proposal. These organizations are concerned that the costs of maintaining an additional online repository will be significant, that the proposed policy will reduce funding available for research, and that the NIH is proceeding to implement a policy that could have significant adverse effects on researchers and professional societies that publish scientific journals.
The American Society of Hematology (www.hematology.org) is the world’s largest professional society concerned with the causes and treatment of blood disorders. Its mission is to further the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting blood, bone marrow, and the immunologic, hemostatic, and vascular systems, by promoting research, clinical care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology.
Members of the media are invited to attend the 46th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition, scheduled for December 4-7, 2004, in San Diego, Calif. For more information, please visit www.hematology.org/news.
Back to Press Release Listing
|
