NEJM editorial on NIH plan

Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D., and Gregory D. Curfman, M.D., Public Access to Biomedical Research, New England Journal of Medicine 351:1343 (September 23, 2004). (Access restricted to subscribers.) The NEJM comments on the NIH OA plan and agrees with the initiative to make research available after six months, since the journal already follows such a policy. They take issue with the NIH on copyright, suggesting the following example of unscrupulous use of their material:

Suppose, for example, that we published an NIH-sponsored study showing that a given drug has benefit for a specific condition but that there are significant side effects to the treatment. Under the proposed rule, a commercial entity could republish the work, highlighting the benefits but ignoring the disadvantages, and attribute the work to the Journal. Since the Journal would not hold copyright, we could not seek recourse in the courts to halt this misuse of scientific data and potential danger to the public.

NEJM therefore calls on NIH to allow journal publishers to retain copyright even in an open access environment.