Howard Hughes Medical Institute Takes Big Open Access Step

Posted on June 27, 2007  Comments (4)

HHMI Announces New Policy for Publication of Research Articles that will require

its scientists to publish their original research articles in scientific journals that allow the articles and supplementary materials to be made freely accessible in a public repository within six months of publication.

Great news. Some, including me, would prefer a shorter time but this is the limit on the slowest time that will be acceptable not a goal. I don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised if HHMI is the largest source of research funds outside of the federal government in the USA. This is one more sign the tactics of the old school journals are failing.

HHMI and Public Access Publishing policy

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has long viewed the sharing of research materials and tools as a fundamental responsibility of scientific authorship. That principle also extends to ensuring that original, peer-reviewed research publications and supplemental materials are freely accessible within six months of publication

Well put; it is amazing how out of touch with the basic concepts of advancing scientific ideas the old style journals are.

Related: The Future of Scholarly PublicationOpen Access Legislation$600 Million for Basic Biomedical Research from HHMI$60 Million in Grants for Universities from HHMI

4 Responses to “Howard Hughes Medical Institute Takes Big Open Access Step”

  1. CuriousCat: Science Journal Publishers Stay Stupid
    August 29th, 2007 @ 2:00 pm

    “It is time for the scientific community to give up on these journals and work with new organizations that will encourage scientific communication and advancement (PLoS – arXiv.org…) and leave those that seek to keep outdated practices to go out of business…”

  2. CuriousCat: Open Access Legislation May Be Included in HHS Budget Bill
    November 3rd, 2007 @ 8:17 pm

    The opponents of open science are lobbying to keep scientific research funded by taxpayers unavailable to the public. As I have said before it is time to stop supporting those who attempt to stop scientific progress…. This legislation would bring openness to federal research in a similar manner to the steps taken by HHMI…

  3. CuriousCat » Harvard Liberal Arts Faculty Votes to Make Their Research Open Source
    February 13th, 2008 @ 6:48 pm

    Another good step for those that support science. As I have stated publicly funded universities should require open access. Privately funded universities I believe should decide to do so also, but it should be their choice…

  4. Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » HHMI on Science 2.0: Information Revolution
    December 3rd, 2008 @ 8:37 am

    […] Howard Hughes Medical Institute does great things for science and for open science. They have an excellent article in their HHMI Bulletin – Science 2.0: You Say You Want a […]

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