After years of heated debates and under pressure from Congress, federal health officials announced Thursday a historic new policy to give the public free access to scientific findings paid for with tax funds.The plan, unveiled by the National Institutes of Health despite sharp opposition by scientific publishers, calls on scientists to release electronic manuscripts of published research supported by NIH’s 27 institutes and centers “as soon as possible, and within 12 months of final publication."Most publicly funded research studies are available only by buying expensive subscriptions to the journals that publish them, or on a pay-per-article basis.Under the new policy, when a woman with breast cancer goes online she would have access to a free central archive of the latest published studies, which could help her make better-informed decisions about treatment.Or a family seeking the results of clinical trials affecting a loved one no longer would be denied access to the information unless they were willing to pay.
