February 11, 2009
CALL TO ACTION: Ask your Representative to oppose the H.R. 801 – The Fair Copyright in Research Works Act
Your action still needed!

February 9, 2009
Heather Joseph Q & A: An Open Access Advocate Discusses Why She Feels Overturning the NIH Policy Would be a Big Mistake
The Scientist, February 9, 2009.  Free registration required to access.

February 9, 2009
Federal Players: The NIH's David Lipman
From the Partnership for Public Service.  The Washington Post, February 9, 2009.

February 5, 2009
Bill Against NIH Open-Access Policy Back in House
by Matt Jones.  GenomeWeb Daily News, February 5, 2009.

February 5, 2009
New Wrinkles as Bill Banning NIH-Like Public Access Resurfaces
by Andrew Albanese.  The Library Journal, February 5, 2009.

February 5, 2009
Anti-Open Access Bill a Real Head-Scratcher
by Gigi Sohn.  Published on Public Knowledge, February 5, 2009.

January 15, 2009
Public Access to the Published Results of Publicly Funded Research Will Benefit the Economy, Science, and Health
(January 2009) [PDF]

January 14, 2009
Vote for Public Access as a priority for the Obama administration
The president-elect's Citizen's Briefing Book gives us a chance to vote for Public Access to research as an issue that should be introduced to him when he takes office. Add your vote now.

January 13, 2009
Public Access to the Published Results of Publicly Funded Research Will Benefit the Economy, Science, and Health, A letter to the Obama transition team

November 26, 2008
New: NIH PubMed Central submission methods videos - Method D
6-minute WMV file. Also available fromhttp://publicaccess.nih.gov.

November 26, 2008
New: NIH PubMed Central submission methods videos - Method C
WMV file of 12 minutes. Also available athttp://publicaccess.nih.gov.

November 12, 2008
Sure, you'd rather focus on science than on debates about open access. But the decisions made today about publishing models are relevant not only to your work, but also to the future of biomedical research. So pay attention.
The November issue of Genome Technology focuses entirely on Open Access. And, this issue has been made openly available under a CC license. Great tool for conversations with faculty!

October 3, 2008
NIH responds to public comments on its OA policy

September 18, 2008
(Concluded) CALL TO ACTION: Tell Congress you oppose the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act
This bill would effectively reverse the NIH Public Access Policy, as well as make it impossible for other federal agencies to put similar policies into place.

September 16, 2008
NIH UPDATE: Congressional hearing on legislation to overturn the NIH Public Access Policy
On September 9, Representative John Conyers (D-MI), Chairman of the House Committee on Judiciary, introduced legislation that would amend U.S. copyright law, overturn the NIH Public Access Policy, and effectively make it illegal for other U.S. federal agencies to enact similar policies. The proposed legislation is the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act (HR6845).

September 16, 2008
[PDF] 33 Nobelists support the NIH Public Access Policy and oppose attempts to weaken or halt

September 16, 2008
[PDF] Letter to Chairman Berman from nine national and regional library, publishing, and advocacy organizations, on HR6845 hearing

July 25, 2008
Guidance for researchers on the NIH Public Access Policy
[PDF] An article by Norka Ruis Bravo, in the July newsletter of the American Society for Cell Biology

July 15, 2008
NIH Releases Transcripts for March 20th Meeting

July 11, 2008
NIH Public Access Policy Does Not Affect U.S. Copyright Law
In response to the NIH's second request for information and public comment on the revised, mandatory public access policy, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) commissioned a legal brief to attempt to raise additional questions about the policy.  The brief falsely asserts that the NIH policy amends U.S. copyright law and adversely affects current international trade agreements. To make clear the misleading nature of AAP's assertions, and to help reiterate that the NIH policy has no affect on U.S. copyright law or international trade, SPARC and ARL, with advice from legal counsel, have prepared a detailed response to AAP's arguments.

June 23, 2008
Creator of PubMed Central BioMedical Research Database Recognized for Outstanding Citizen Service
Dr. David Lipman a finalist for prestigious 2008 Service to America Medal

June 3, 2008
SPARC letter to NIH, in response to call for public comment
[PDF] As part of the National Institutes of Health recent Request for Information (NOT-OD-05-022), concluded on May 30, SPARC submitted 15 pages of supporting comments and extensive citations. The letter outlines in detail the need for the NIH policy, the sufficiency of the policy development process, strengths of the current implementation, potential enhancements of the policy, and ideas for monitoring. 

May 7, 2008
NIH Updates its Public Access Policy FAQ
The NIH has made significant revisions to its NIH Public Access Policy Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page (http://publicaccess.nih.gov/FAQ.htm). These revisions were posted on May 2, 2008. For your reference, we have detailed the revisions – which include one blanket change, a series of added questions and answers, and some revisions –below. Please circulate to anyone who may be interested in or affected by the policy.

April 15, 2008
Harold Varmus talks about the NIH policy on NPR's Science Friday
The Nobel Prize winner discusses the new NIH Public Access Policy with host Ira Flatow.

April 8, 2008
Implementing the new NIH policy: Featuring university-sponsored resources for authors
From the SPARC Open Access Newsletter, April 2008, by Peter Suber.