<$BlogRSDUrl$> Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. Author/Speaker/Consultant
Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. Author/Speaker/Consultant
Internet Happenings, Events and Sources


Thursday, November 11, 2004  

New Open Access Policy Brings Cheers, Concerns
http://www.infotoday.com/it/oct04/quint.shtml

Online research maven Barbara Quint hails the recent National Institutes of Health decision requiring all grantees and contractors to submit electronic copies of finished manuscripts for full-text release through PubMed Central, the National Library of Medicine's medical research site. Noting that the new policy could accelerate the momentum of the open access movement in other federal information agencies, she cautions that some negative issues could arise. For example, the NIH has set up a protection policy that holds electronic publication until six months after a study has been printed. But, asks Quint, what will happen when patient advocacy groups that the NIH depends up on for volunteer studies come "crying" for immediate release of research studies? "The NIH/NLM could find itself defending the promotion of unproven medical experimentation on patients while withholding the results of completed research tests. Maybe they could palliate the groups by offering early release only through advocacy group sites, but, one way or another, I doubt they will hold out long," she says. And, she says that to quell concerns that publishers may retract their recently expanded peer review and editorial boards, "We must simply develop alternative models for independent, objective, authoritative evaluation of scientific results."

posted by Marcus Zillman | 4:05 AM
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