From: Stevan Harnad <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 23:02:22 -0400

Hard to imagine how fundee compliance with NIH OA policy can be
effectively enforced while:

(1) Deposit can be done by either the fundee or the publisher
(who is not bound by the grant's conditions)

(2) Deposit must by directly in PubMed Central instead
of the fundee's institutional repository (where the institution
can monitor publication output and ensure compliance)

Unlike the institution (which monitors its researchers'
publication output and productivity) the funder is unaware
of what and where papers are published, especially after
peer review is done and the researcher is funded. (Final
Reports come far too late.)

Hence the natural enforcer for funder policy is of course the
fundee's institution, which already casts an eager eagle eye
on all phases of the all-important research application and
funding process (because of a shared institutional interest
in getting research funding).

The publisher, in contrast, has every interest in deterring or
delaying OA as much as possible.

The researcher, meanwhile, is busy writing grant applications
and conducting research, if funded. Publish-or-perish ensures
that researchers publish, but only institutions and institutional
mandates can ensure that the publications are made OA
(especially if institutional repository deposit is designated
as the sole mechanism for submitting research for annual
institutional performance review).

See http://bit.ly/institutionalOA

Stevan Harnad


On 2012-04-23, at 8:03 PM, LIBLICENSE wrote:

> From: "Hansen, Dave" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 21:28:06 +0000
>
> Does anyone on this list have an idea of how the NIH enforces its
> public access policy? I recently had a conversation with someone who
> has viewed several NIH non-compliance letters. She expressed some
> consternation that, while letters sometimes go out about
> non-compliance, there is no real force behind them and nothing that
> effectively compels compliance. I couldn’t find any more info from the
> NIH itself.
>
> Does anyone have any idea how prevalent non-compliance is and how
> frequently NIH takes actions to enforce the policy, and for those
> library lawyers that I know lurk around on this list, who (if anyone)
> would be able to contest non-enforcement by the NIH?*
>
> *I’m not trying to pick a fight. I’d just like to know who has the
> right to do such a thing.
>
> -----
>
> David R. Hansen
> Digital Library Fellow
> Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic
> UC Berkeley School of Law
> [log in to unmask]