Legislation to Make Research Freely Available to Public

New US legislation is being proposed that places results of all biomedical research sponsored by the US government into the public domain, so that access cannot be restricted by copyright.

The promoter of the legislation is a group called the Public Library of Science (PLoS, San Francisco, CA, USA), which includes scientists, doctors, researchers, and public supporters. The group believes that taxpayers should have free access to research financed with their money. The total value of US taxpayer investment in scientific and medical research is more than US$50 billion per year.

PLoS is putting this new model into action, beginning with the October 2003 launch of its new premier journal, PloS Biology. This journal will feature articles from the world's prominent scientists, edited by a team of academic and professional editors, and will be immediately freely available to scientists and the public over the Internet, to read, distribute, or use for further research.

Currently, most of the latest biologic and medical research publications are available online, but full access is restricted either to individuals who subscribe or to those large universities and research institutions that can afford the often-exorbitant subscription fees. Journal publishers often make excessive profits, while the public whose tax dollars went toward funding the research and most of the scientists who conducted the research are unable to access the results.

"Unlimited access to scientific research will speed discoveries and medical advances, as it has in the cases of the Human Genome Project and SARS,” said Dr. Harold Varmus, co-founder and chairman of the board of PloS. "The speed at which these projects advanced science and, more importantly, saved lives is testament to the equation that drives the Public Library of Science: multiply knowledge by access and you can really accelerate progress.”




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