FASEB Submits Comments on NIH Public Access Plan

Thursday, April 6, 2023
On April 6, FASEB submitted comments to the National Institutes of Health in response to a Request for Information on the agency's plan to enhance public access to the results of NIH-supported research. FASEB's comments encouraged NIH to allow flexibility for institutions to use indirect funds for a variety of publishing models and use diverse revenue streams beyond indirect costs available to support the costs of publication and make the transition to the realities of the new policy easier and more achievable for researchers. In addition, FASEB noted that scholarly societies are well-positioned to improve equity in access to publications for many stakeholders and recommended that NIH not monitor publication fees lest the impact result in a system that favors quantity over quality. FASEB also requested more clarification about the types of manuscripts subject to NIH's public access plan, including whether review articles, perspectives, commentaries, or editorials would be included.