The Association of American Publishers has criticised the controversial new NIH research publication policy that was enacted as part of the omnibus appropriations package for 2008. It reaffirmed that journal publishers who have opposed the policy will continue to pursue their concerns with Congress regarding the policy's negative impact on science publishing and the protection of related intellectual property rights. Also, they will urge NIH to conduct a rulemaking proceeding, with opportunity for public comment, before implementing the new policy.
The new policy, according to AAP's Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs, Allan Adler, is unprecedented and inconsistent with important US laws and policies regarding the conduct of scientific research and the protection of intellectual property rights. He further stated that smaller and non-profit scientific societies and their scholarly missions will be particularly at risk as their journal subscribers worldwide will turn to NIH for free access to the same content for which they would otherwise pay.
The Association noted that changing to a new mandatory policy undermines publishers' ability to exercise their copyrights in the published articles. The NIH policy also threatens the intellectual freedom of authors, including their choice to seek publication in journals that may refuse to accept proposed articles that would be subject to the new mandate.
Under the previous voluntary NIH policy, NIH-funded researchers were 'requested' to submit an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts to NIH immediately upon acceptance by a journal for publication. The agency would then make it freely available to the international online world through its PubMedCentral web site no more than 12 months after the date of journal publication.
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