Monday, November 19, 2012

It's time to stop ignoring the NIH Public Access Policy

For over 4 years, NIH has had a rule on the books called the Public Access Policy.  This policy was created in order to widen availability of research data and make it more easily accessible to the public (thus the "Public Access Policy", get it?).  Unfortunately, many people still fail to understand the requirements of the policy or make any effort to submit manuscripts to PubMed Central or properly cite PMCIDs in their biosketches and Resources sections. 

According to a recently-released NIH notice, it is time to start paying attention.  According to the recent notice, NIH will hold processing of  non-competing continuation awards if publications arising from grant awards are not in compliance with the Public Access Policy. This means that ignoring the policy will result in your next year of funding being held until you are in compliance with the policy. 

Come on, people.  We have had over 4 years to get this right.  Failing to comply with the policy can only be due to laziness or apathy.  You have been warned.  If your funding ends up suspended for failure to comply, don't say I didn't warn you!

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