Battle Over NIH Research Steps Up

The battle has escalated over the recent Congressional proposal that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) mandate open access archiving (see News, LJ 9/1/04, p. 17). Some lawmakers have backed off the idea that the proposed NIH policy would actually be implemented soon, instead characterizing the NIH's proposal as the beginning of a process.

Association of American Publishers (AAP) president Patricia Schroeder has sent a letter to Congress, as have a trio of AAP members. The letter from three members of the AAP's Professional/ Scholarly Publishing Division raised tough questions and legitimate concerns about how the NIH policy would function practically, including whether the policy would be an "unfunded mandate" or whether Congress would make money available to ensure compliance. It also attacked the NIH's core argument: that taxpayers should have access to taxpayer-funded research.

Meanwhile, a group of academic libraries and major library organizations joined a coalition to support open access to NIH-funded research. The Alliance for Taxpayer Access (ATA) is comprised of libraries and patient and health policy advocates (www.arl.org/ata). Also, 25 Nobel Prize winners have signed a letter to Congress supporting the plan.

Four library groups also wrote to NIH director Elias Zerhouni to voice their support. The Association of Research Libraries, American Association of Law Libraries, American Library Association, and Special Libraries Association emphasized the difficulty libraries have had with serials inflation.

The House Appropriations Committee has given the NIH until December to present a plan for offering open access to NIH-funded research. However, a draft statement from Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) said lawmakers intend for the NIH to "bring the various stakeholders to the table and work out a policy on more open access to biomedical research information, without specifying exactly which model will be adopted."

Further, it appears that the Senate is reluctant to get involved. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who received the AAP's letter criticizing the NIH proposal, said he would not follow the House's lead and add a call for public access in a Senate appropriations bill.