Under the provisions of the US' Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, signed by President Bush last week, most health researchers backed by federal grants will now be required to offer their findings free to the public a year after they are published commercially. According to advocates of open access, the new law is projected to accelerate medical progress and improve biomedical education by sharing key results far more widely.
A majority of biomedical researchers publish their findings in technical journals that can cost subscribers $1,000 or more annually. Articles are also sold individually or by the page, but the costs are proportional to journal subscription prices. Only a few reportedly provide free, open access to results. Under the new law, expected to be enforced within six months, researchers who get government funding must deposit electronic copies of all relevant peer-reviewed articles with PubMed Central, the National Library of Medicine's online archive. Full texts of the articles will be made available and searchable on PubMed Central a year after they are published in journals.
Research librarians and universities pressed by tight budgets and high subscription fees won the new deal by convincing key lawmakers that knowledge gained from taxpayer-funded research should be made freely available.
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