Open access to research recognized this week
Filed under: Health journalism, Public records, Studies, Tools
It’s Open Access week! Time to honor the principle that scientific research should be made available for free online immediately upon publication, a principle that’s served health journalists pretty well over the past few years. Universities, government organizations and other groups around the world will celebrate by opening up more information and drawing attention to the principles that drive the open access movement.
Open Access flagship reaches milestone
On Oct. 19, PLoS Medicine, 
a prominent and pioneering open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science, turned five. The Public Library of Science is a nonprofit funded by charging authors publication fees, and by private donors. In addition to PLoS Medicine, it publishes six other journals covering biology and medical science.
PubMed goes Canadian
One of the greatest triumphs of open access has been PubMed Central, in which all NIH-funded research is made available for free, usually within 12 months of publication. Both the U.S. and U.K. have their own PubMed systems, and now Canada’s getting one too. PubMed Central Canada, created by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Research Council’s Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, and the U.S. National Library of Medicine, will take its first steps, launching its manuscript submission system as part of the week’s festivities.
AHCJ: Proposal would be blow to public access
Legislation introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 3 “would constitute a blow to the public’s right to access vital scientific data” if it goes forward, according to a statement by the Association of Health Care Journalists.
Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.)
The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act, HR 801, introduced by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. and others, would reverse a National Institutes of Health policy that requires federal research grantees to provide their peer-reviewed articles to PubMed Central, a free online database. Under the existing policy, manuscripts resulting from federally-funded research must be made publicly available within 12 months of their publication date.
Related
See what others are saying about the proposed legislation:
- DigitalKoans: Fair Copyright in Research Works Act: Ten Associations and Advocacy Groups Send Letter to Judiciary Committee Members Opposing Act
- Free Government Information: Act now for open access to govt funded research
- American Library Association:Conyers Introduces H.R. 801, “The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act”
- Open Access News: Comments on the Conyers bill, #4
- Open Access Blog: Nathan Georgette follows the money and finds that “Conyers’ third single largest campaign contributor in 2008 was the American Intellectual Property Law Association.
Medscape drops publication of articles
The Medscape Journal of Medicine announced Friday that it is ceasing publication of new articles.
The Journal was one element of the Medscape Web site, which will continue “focusing on our role as an aggregator and interpreter of medical information and not as the primary source for original scientific articles.” The announcement says “all previously published articles will remain published and available on the Medscape platform, indexed in MEDLINE/PubMed, and – for the next several years – in full text at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/ as well.”
Ivan Oransky, managing editor for online at Scientific American and an AHCJ board member, writes about the changes and about open access medical journals in general.
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Health Journalism 2010, AHCJ's annual conference, features a world-class program with story ideas, sources, stronger reporting skills, chances to meet newsmakers and network with other journalists.
- Health and education: Covering these intersecting beats
- Reporting on the business of health care
- Health reporting resources for journalists on state and local government beats
- Shortened Lives: How location, lifestyle affect health
- Covering a complex story for the long haul
- Aging in the 21st Century: Presentations and tip sheets
- AHCJ calls for better information from Joint Commission Web site
