Posting this to let you know the soon you will be able to get info
for free on TS if it is Government Funded research, as our tax payer
dollars are paying for the research, therefore we should not have to
pay for it again to discover the results.

Paul Marshall
editor@...


Taxpayers Support "Open Access" to NIH Research; Public Interest
Advocates Join Forces to Support Congress and NIH Leadership

Tue Aug 24,12:07 PM ET





To: National Desk


Contact: Bob Witeck, 202-887-0500 ext. 19 or
bwiteck@..., for the Alliance for Taxpayer Access


WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- An unprecedented coalition of
public interest groups today announced the formation of the Alliance
for Taxpayer Access. The Alliance will urge the National Institutes
of Health (news - web sites) as well as Congress to ensure that peer-
reviewed articles on taxpayer-funded research at NIH become fully
accessible and available on line and at no extra cost to the
American public.


The Alliance formation precedes the public interest meeting slated
for Tuesday, August 31 where NIH will receive input on how to
improve public access to the results of NIH-funded biomedical
research.


The Alliance is an informal coalition of libraries, patient and
health policy advocates, and other stakeholders who support reforms
that will make publicly funded biomedical research accessible to the
public. Details and FAQ's on the Alliance may be found at
http://www.taxpayeraccess.org.


Today the vast majority of research funded with public dollars is
available only through increasingly costly journal subscriptions
(often costing thousands of dollars annually for a single journal),
institutional licenses (more than a million dollars annually for
many universities), or per article purchases (as much as $30 per
article). Alliance supporters believe the current system of
subscription-based access to scientific research is economically
unsustainable and effectively impedes the dissemination and use of
research that has been paid for with public dollars.


Alliance supporter Sharon Terry, President and CEO of the Genetic
Alliance, said, "This consumer-centered approach is a long-overdue
means by which to enhance public health education, speed the
translation of genetic advances into quality, affordable health
care, and inform and empower patients in their health care
decisions."


"It is sometimes suggested that this information is not available to
the 'homemaker in Iowa' because she is ill equipped to deal with
this information. We know, from our 600 members -- disease-specific
advocacy organizations -- that the homemaker has many resources to
help her use that information. This access is critical; we know
first-hand that clinicians are unable to keep up with information on
6000 rare diseases, and patients must be the bridge to new
knowledge."


Acknowledging the key role of individuals volunteering for clinical
tests, Mitchell Warren, Executive Director of the AIDS (news - web
sites) Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, said that, "Open access is
consistent with cornerstone principles of respect for persons when
conducting research on human subjects and will contribute to the
willingness of individuals to participate in subsequent research
because they have full, shared, knowledge of results."


"In the digital age, with the extraordinary public benefits of
cutting-edge research, it is counter-productive for there to be
costly barriers preventing the fullest possible availability of
quality information about current research findings," said Rick
Johnson, spokesman for the group. Johnson also serves as director of
the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), a
member of the new Alliance. "We agree with leaders at NIH and on
Capitol Hill that the status quo is unacceptable when most American
taxpayers do not have access to the reports on biomedical research
conducted with U.S. Government funds."


Barbara Redman, Dean of the College of Nursing at Wayne State
University, echoed concerns of educators' within the
Alliance: "Access to emerging NIH-funded medical research is
invaluable to the transfer of knowledge in every instructional
setting. Faculty and students alike benefit from access to
biomedical reports in all fields, and we applaud NIH leadership in
furthering this initiative."


Dr. Richard Roberts, 1993 Nobel Laureate in medicine and currently
with New England Biolabs, added his support: "Open access to the
scientific literature is the single most important advance that we
can make in the distribution of research results to scientists and
the public alike. I find that a majority of my fellow scientists and
Nobel Laureates agree that this new initiative is groundbreaking,
long overdue and will ensure that we all can read about the results
of our government's support of research. I am heartened that
taxpayers representing broad stakeholders in this issue have joined
forces to endorse the principle of open access to the scientific
literature we produce through our investment of public dollars. This
is good for science and good for the American public."


Members of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access, at formation (in
alphabetical order), include: AIDS Action Baltimore; AIDS Vaccine
Advocacy Coalition; American Association of Law Libraries; American
Library Association; American Medical Student Association; Arthritis
Foundation; Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries;
Association of College & Research Libraries; Association of Maternal
and Child Health Programs; Association of Research Libraries;
Association of Southeastern Research Libraries; Autosomal Recessive
Polycystic Kidney Disease and Congenital Hepatic Fibrosis Alliance;
Boston College Libraries; Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation;
Coalition for Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue; Colorado
State University Libraries; Conquer Fragile X Syndrome; Down
Syndrome Treatment and Research Foundation; Facing Our Risk of
Cancer Empowered; Genetic Alliance; International Mosaic Down
Syndrome Association; IsoDicentric 15 Exchange, Advocacy & Support;
Medical Library Association; National Alliance for Autism Research;
National Coalition for PKU & Allied Disorders; National Fragile X
Foundation; National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association, Inc.;
New England Biolabs; Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy; Prader-Willi
Syndrome Association; Public Knowledge; PXE International; Scholarly
Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition; Spina Bifida
Association of America; Tourette Syndrome Association; University of
Connecticut Libraries; Wayne State University College of Nursing


http://www.usnewswire.com/


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/© 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/