Endocrine Insider
September 19, 2008

The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act (HR 6845), introduced on September 11, 2008 by House Judiciary Chair John Conyers (D-MI), significantly impacts the National Institutes of Health (NIH) open access policy.  The policy, which was mandated under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, directs NIH to require its funded investigators to submit their final peer-reviewed manuscripts to PubMed Central. 

HR 6845 would bar any federal agency from requiring the "transfer of license" to the government of a paper that has been produced in part with non-government funds.  While the papers covered under the NIH policy are on findings from government-funded research, publishers invest resources into the papers as well by paying for peer review and production.  The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property held a hearing on September 11, 2008, and heard from a variety of witnesses, including NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, about the impact of the NIH policy. 

The Endocrine Society supports access by the public to all federally funded research but also believes that the copyrights of the publisher must be protected.  The Society has been participating in the Washington DC Principles for Free Access to Science, a coalition representing 73 not-for-profit publishers, and signed a letter of support for the legislation, which may be viewed here: http://www.endo-society.org/advocacy/Copyright-Protection.cfm.