FASEB Submits Comments on NIH Draft Public Access Policy

By: Naomi Charalambakis
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
On August 6, FASEB submitted feedback in response to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) draft public access policy and two supplemental guidance documents regarding government use license and rights and publication costs. The draft policy fulfills requirements outlined in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) 2022 memorandum that aims to provide free, immediate, and equitable access to federally funded research.

FASEB's response reaffirmed its previous comments to NIH about its public access plan, an initial roadmap of how the agency envisioned accelerating access to scholarly publications. For example, FASEB encouraged NIH to clarify the definition of "manuscript” by specifying whether review articles, perspectives, editorials, etc. fall under the scope of the policy. Furthermore, FASEB encouraged NIH to add requirements about persistent identifiers to help achieve the agency’s goal of improving research discoverability and transparency. Requiring grantees to have an Open Researcher and Contributor ID and assigning digital object identifiers to all grants are two feasible and cost-effective strategies that will enhance NIH’s efforts to track grant funding and research outputs. 

FASEB's comments thank NIH for allowing indirect funds to go toward "allowable" costs in budget requests, as specified in the supplemental guidance accompanying the draft policy. However, recognizing the many challenges that stakeholders will experience in complying with the policy, FASEB strongly recommends NIH publish an implementation plan with a public comment period to allow publishers, institutions, and researchers time to adequately prepare for the new policy and its effective date of October 1, 2025.