EAGER: The NIH Public Access Policy: Establishing a Basis for Assessing a Science Policy

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

In April, 2009, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy began to require that all research publications resulting from NIH funding be made publicly accessible within a year of publication through deposit on PubMed Central. The NIH Public Access Policy is part of a larger move toward open access in scholarly publishing. It would appear to have a yet-to-be-assessed potential to increase the public value of federally funded knowledge production, with at least potential implications for personal health decisions, evidence-based medicine and policy-making, and citizens' participation in policy deliberations, as well as playing a more active role in health-care decisions affecting them and their families. The research develops and validates a reliable set of methods and instruments, as well as some initial baseline measures, for accurately assessing the value of the government's public access policy among likely beneficiaries of this public access, namely, health-care practitioners and administrators, patient families, and patient and patient advocacy agency staff. The project has three goals: 1) develop survey items, interview protocols, and environmental scans that make sense to the constituent groups; 2) produce knowledge of value to these groups as well as researchers and policy makers; and 3) provide some baseline measures of current research awareness and access. Intellectual Merit: The project lays the groundwork for a scientific analysis of levels of public engagement with publicly accessible research. The results provide a deeper understanding of whether Open Access policies have the intended impact in four key areas: research discovery, comprehension, evaluation, and utilization. Broader Impact: As public access to research literature increases, there is a need to develop a scientific framework for analyzing public levels of engagement with this knowledge. This project develops important protocols, instruments and training procedures as well as establishes initial baseline measurements to inform future research on the topic.