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<font color="#0000ff" face="Arial" size="2"><span
class="837564807-11112004">FYI.</span></font><br>
<div class="OutlookMessageHeader" align="left" dir="ltr" lang="en-us">
<hr tabindex="-1"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b> Harold
Varmus [<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="mailto:haroldvarmus [ at ] plos [ dot ] org">mailto:haroldvarmus [ at ] plos [ dot ] org</a>] <br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, November 11, 2004 12:58 AM<br>
<b>To:</b>...<br>
<b>Subject:</b> URGENT support for NIH public access policy<br>
</font><br>
</div>
<div></div>
<div>Dear Open Access Supporter,</div>
<div> </div>
<div>On September 3, 2004 the NIH posted for comment an "Enhanced
Public </div>
<div>Access Policy." This policy would require the recipients of NIH
research </div>
<div>grants to provide to the National Library of Medicine a digital
copy of </div>
<div>the final accepted manuscript (or the published version itself) of
every </div>
<div>published report resulting from NIH-funded research, so that the </div>
<div>research results can be made freely available to scientists and
the </div>
<div>public through PubMed Central within six months of publication.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>We are writing now to urge you to submit a comment in support of
this </div>
<div>proposal right away. The deadline for comments is just a few
days away </div>
<div>- November 16th.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>The text of the proposal is available at:<br>
<a
href="http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-04-064.html";>http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-04-064.html</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>You can post comments here: <br>
<a href="http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/public_access/add.htm";>http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/public_access/add.htm</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>A powerful lobby of publishers and scientific societies is trying
to </div>
<div>block this plan. They claim that this is an unwarranted
government </div>
<div>intrusion on their business practices. In fact, the NIH policy
has no </div>
<div>authority over publishers - its rules apply only to the scientists
who </div>
<div>voluntarily accept grants from the NIH. The publishers remain free
to </div>
<div>operate their businesses as they always have and to compete in the
free </div>
<div>market to provide the best service and value to their authors and </div>
<div>readers. But the publishers are wrong in arguing that they are
entitled </div>
<div>to monopoly control over access to the results of research that
American </div>
<div>taxpayers have paid for. On the contrary, the taxpayers who fund
the </div>
<div>research, and the scientists who carry it out, have every right to
ask </div>
<div>the grant recipients to provide open access to the published
results. </div>
<div>And they have every right to expect that the benefits of the
research </div>
<div>will be amplified by making it freely and widely available for
others to </div>
<div>use and to build on.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Let the NIH know that you support this policy proposal. Even
better </div>
<div>would be to tell the NIH that you would prefer an even stronger
policy </div>
<div>that requires full and immediate open access to all papers
resulting </div>
<div>from NIH-funded research. It is important that the NIH and other </div>
<div>policymakers understand that this is not (as some publishers would
have </div>
<div>them believe) a radical proposal destined to destroy scientific </div>
<div>publishing, but a thoughtful compromise that balances the desire
for </div>
<div>better access with the commercial interests of scientific
publishers.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>More information about the policy is available at </div>
<div><a href="http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm";>http://www.nih.gov/about/publicaccess/index.htm</a></div>
<div><a href="http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/";>http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Notable statements of support for the plan include:<br>
</div>
<div>An open letter to the US Congress signed by 25 Nobel Laureates: </div>
<div><a href="http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/bof.html";>http://www.taxpayeraccess.org/bof.html</a></div>
<div><br>
The Council of the National Academy of Sciences: </div>
<div><a
href="http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/s09162004?OpenDocument";>http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/s09162004?OpenDocument</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Please let us know if you have any questions.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Harold Varmus</div>
<div>Patrick Brown</div>
<div>Michael Eisen</div>
<br>
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