NIH Publisher Fee Cap Plan "Not Comprehensive Enough"

"Members of the public have until Sept. 15 to weigh in on the National Institutes of Health's plan to curb how much taxpayer money goes to journals to publish some federally funded research. The agency, which is the nation's largest funder of biomedical research, wants to do that by capping-or potentially disallowing-the amount of money it gives to NIH-funded researchers who want to make their work publicly accessible by paying publishers article processing charges."

"Jay Bhattacharya, director of the NIH, has said the policy could be a mechanism for ending what he sees as the "perverse incentives" driving the $19 billion for-profit academic publishing industry and making it "much harder for a small number of scientific elite to say what's true and false." But open-information advocates and experts who have reviewed the NIH's proposed plans for capping the amount it will pay for article processing charges said it likely won't reform academia's incentive structure or rein in publishers,"

"It is important to keep in mind that any cap is a cap on the amount that can be budgeted to be paid from a grant. It is not a cap on what publishers can charge. What publishers charge may be influenced by a budget cap, but many other factors will also impact on that,"

NIH is considering options to cap or potentially disallow use of grant funds for article processing charges to reduce taxpayer payments to journals publishing federally funded research. A July 30 request for information outlined five options intended to balance feasibility of providing research results with maximizing the use of taxpayer funds to support research. The policy could function as a mechanism to end perceived "perverse incentives" in the $19 billion for-profit academic publishing industry and to reduce concentrated influence over scientific truth. Critics say a cap likely will not reform academic incentives or restrain publishers charging high fees. Any cap would limit what can be budgeted from grants but would not set publisher prices, and budget caps may prompt lower-cost publishers to raise fees.

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