CONTACTS: Linda Rozett/Eric Wohlschlegel
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce welcomed news by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that it plans to provide enhanced public access to all NIH-funded research information.  The Chamber has long been an active advocate of more open and transparent access to government information.

 

 “This is great news for American taxpayers and businesses,” said William Kovacs, Chamber vice president for environment, technology and regulatory affairs, which strongly supports the NIH proposal.  “The Chamber encourages the free and timely dissemination of scientific knowledge produced by the NIH as it will improve both the public and industry’s ability to become better informed on public policy issues that impact them.” 

 

 NIH is seeking comments on its request concerning all final versions of research publications that were funded in whole or in part by NIH, including all research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, as well as National Research Service Award (NRSA) fellowships.

 

 While welcoming free public dissemination of NIH-funded research, Kovacs also urged NIH to provide free access to all models and data used in support of the research, without which he noted, would make establishing the scientific findings impossible.

 

 The Chamber previously supported an amendment that required all federally supported research be made available in the public domain, and plans to submit comments to NIH concerning this proposal.

 

 The Chamber is the world’s largest business federation, representing more than three million businesses of every size, sector, and region.

 

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