Bill to curb open-access publishing collapses

A draft bill intended to prevent federal agencies from insisting that the research they support is published in open-access journals has been squashed by its opponents, including research universities, libraries and patient advocacy groups.

On 27 February, publishing giant Elsevier pulled its support for the Research Works Act, which was widely seen as an attempt to overturn the National Institutes of Health’s public-access policy. The policy states that NIH grantees have to make final manuscripts freely available within one year of publication.