President Bush has signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007 (H.R. 2764), which includes a provision directing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to provide the public with open online access to findings from its funded research. This is the first time the U.S. government has mandated public access to research funded by a major agency.
Das ist nun Gesetz in den Staaten (Fettdruck durch mich):
The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.
via Peter Suber (sein Dank an Santa Claus) und anderen Blogs (Archivalia auch auf Zack), die diesen grossen Erfolg zu Recht feiern.
Laut Washington Post braucht die NIH nun ein halbes Jahr, um das Gesetz umzusetzen.
Anmerkung: Nichts ist umsonst. Was kostet uns dieser Sieg? Because it cuts spending to the levels President Bush requested, and gives him $70 billion for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, he is expected to sign it. [Peter Suber]