Peak body with skin in the game backs NHMRC on open access

The Council of Australian University Librarians adds to the not-many endorsements of NHMRC’s new Open Access policy

The National Health and Medical Research Council has announced that papers based on research it funds from now must be open access from publication date (CMM September 20).

This is a big deal indeed – bringing a major Australian agency into line with the European OA commitment and extending on President Biden’s new policy for federally funded research in the US.

The NHMRC’s policy, “represents a significant advance in making publicly funded research outputs openly available immediately upon publication,” CAUL states.

The council has skin in this game – negotiating deals between its members and publishers large and small that link open access and pay to publish to subscription fees (umpteen CMM stories, for example November 23 2021).

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