The September 6 Washington Post is reporting that the NIH is considering a major policy change toward open access principles:

"The committee is very concerned that there is insufficient public access to reports and data resulting from NIH-funded research," it read. "This situation . . . is contrary to the best interests of the U.S. taxpayers who paid for this research."

The report called upon NIH to devise a system that would ensure that NIH-funded research results be "freely and continuously available no later than six months after publication."

The report also notes that scientific journals are protesting that this will hurt their publication business. No doubt. This is a move away from a finanical model which allows organizations--both profit and not-for-profit--to capitalize on resources which should be public. These publishing groups have essentially been subsidized by grant-based research. Time for that well to run dry.

Slashdot has some discussion of this possible policy change