NIH-funded research to be published on-line for free

The US Congress is considering legislation that would require the authors of scientific articles that have received National Institutes of Health grants to submit their papers for free public inspection on the federal agency's web site. Copyright advocates claim this will reduce intellectual property protection and harm the peer-reviewed journals' economic viability, Technology Today reports. The legislation was approved by the House of Representatives in a spending bill for the NIH (HR3043).

The dispute mirrors similar demands by anti-patent advocates who argue that drug companies benefit from research that is funded by the NIH, without adequate compensation being made to taxpayers, from whose funds the drug industry allegedly benefits.

Patrick Ross, executive director of the Copyright Alliance, said that would-be publishers would be deterred from conducting peer review and publishing NIH-funded research by the immediate prospect of the article appearing elsewhere for free.