excerpt:
When the National Institutes of Health (NIH) created its groundbreaking public access policy this year, advocates expressed the belief that it the policy would spread, and other major research organizations would follow. Today, Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism advocacy organization, became the first U.S.-based non-profit advocacy organization to develop a public access requirement.
As of December 3, all researchers accepting grants from the organization will be required to deposit any resulting peer-reviewed research papers in the PubMed Central online archive, and make them available to the public within 12 months of journal publication.
Positive reinforcement
The move constitutes significant—and very public—support of the NIH public access policy. In 2007, Autism Speaks committed an unprecedented $30 million in new research funding to autism research. It has also generated significant attention to its cause via outreach efforts and resources for families. And, the group clearly has friends in Congress. Last year, Congress approved full funding of the Combating Autism Act, providing $162 million for programs at the NIH, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
by Andrew Albanese — Library Journal Academic Newswire, 11/13/2008
