The open access movement will take a hit if two amendments are voted into a bill currently on the Senate floor. The two amendments were filed in the Senate on Friday to either strike or modify language from a Senate appropriations bill that would require NIH-funded research to be made publicly available. The provisions are part of the Senate appropriations bill for 2008, which totals about $150 billion in funding for the departments of Health and Human Services and Education. This bill, if passed, includes a public access provision stating that all research supported by NIH funds must be entered into the National Library of Medicine data base within one year of being published in a peer-reviewed journal. This bill was passed by the House of Representatives on July 19. The amendments were filed at the end of the day on Friday (Oct 19) by James Inhofe, Republican senator from...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!