Open Access to the Scientific Literature
AMSA Endorses Open Access Publishing and is a Partner with PLoS
Based on the criteria adopted in a meeting in Bethesda, MD, in April, 2003, an Open Access Publication 1 meets the following two conditions:
- The author(s) and copyright holder(s) grant(s) to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works, in any digital medium for any responsible purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship 2, as well as the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal use.
- A complete version of the work and all supplemental materials, including a copy of the permission as stated above, in a suitable standard electronic format is deposited immediately upon initial publication in at least one online repository that is supported by an academic institution, scholarly society, government agency, or other well-established organization that seeks to enable open access, unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving (for the biomedical sciences, PubMed Central is such a repository).
- Open access is a property of individual works, not necessarily journals or publishers.
- Community standards, rather than copyright law, will continue to provide the mechanism for enforcement of proper attribution and responsible use of the published work, as they do now.
AMSA has endorsed the concept of open access publishing, and we have partnered with the PLoS Medicine, the first new general medical journal in 70 years and a leader in open access publishing. PLoS Medicine launched its first issue in October, 2004, and AMSA will contribute the North American representative to its student advisory board. This board will oversee the Student Forum section, a space where students from around the globe can publish an exchange of ideas about the critical issues of our day.
Press Release: American Medical Student Association and Public Library of Science Join Together to Improve Medical Education (10/27/04)
Additional Reading
- Why PLoS Became a Publisher Varmus et al
- PLoS Medicine--A Medical Journal for the Internet Age Varmus et al
- Prescription for a Healthy Journal--Yamey et al
AMSA is a member of the Alliance for Taxpayer Access
The Alliance for Taxpayer Access is a diverse and growing alliance of organizations representing taxpayers, patients, physicians, researchers, and institutions that support open public access to taxpayer-funded research. This group supports three principles:
- American taxpayers are entitled to open access to the peer-reviewed scientific articles on research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
- Open access to these reports will lead to usage by millions of physicians, public health professionals, patients, students, teachers, scientists, and others, and will deliver an accelerated return on the taxpayers' investment in NIH.
- Widespread dissemination of these reports is an essential, inseparable component of our nation’s investment in science.
AMSA Comments on the NIH Proposal that results of NIH-funded research must be placed in PubMed within 6 months of publication
As AMSA has moved to endorse open access publishing, the U.S. Congress has expressed concern that the NIH-funded research results are privately held (by journals) and not easily accessible to the taxpayers who fund the research. With the Congressional pressure from U.S. House report No. 108-646 and others, the NIH issued a plan to make all NIH-funded research publicly available in PubMed Central within 6 months of publication.
AMSA strongly supports this proposal and has issued this comment.
The AAMC has also endorsed this plan.