NIH research goes open access
By Leslie Poston
Although it is more and more rare these days, the US Government can still get it right once in a while. Recently they decreed that all NIH research must be released to the public for use one year after publication in their own journals. The decreed portal for publication is Pub Med, and the law changing the NIH public access policies is the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (HR 2764).
Pub Med Central is the online archive of the National Library of Medicine. Having the NIH research available for public access there in a timely fashion will have positive ramifications for medical technology and research across the nation. Public access to needed complimentary and opposing data in a study will help every research project come to fruition much faster. It is a kind of forced collaboration.
“Years of unrelenting commitment and dedication by patient groups and our allies in the research community have at last borne fruit,” said Sharon Terry, President and CEO of Genetic Alliance. “We’re proud of Congress for their unrelenting commitment to ensuring the success of public access to NIH-funded research. As patients, patient advocates, and families, we look forward to having expanded access to the research we need.”
Funding this new, open policy of research access is the taxpayer’s $29 Million dollars, heretofore tied up in bureaucracy and red tape. This means that for once your taxpayer money is actually working for your benefit as a taxpayer, without any middleman. That’s fantastic news, and hopefully the first step in the right direction of many.
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