Open access of electronic journals reached a new stage when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) decided on a Public Access Policy for funded research results recently. In September 2004 they proposed a plan requesting researchers who received NIH research funds to submit their final manuscripts to NIH's PubMed Central within 6 months of publication, to be freely available, and asked for public comments on that plan. After considering those comments NIH announced the final policy in February 2005. That policy differed from the proposal in that the deadline date for submission was extended to 12 months from the original 6. The policy was to be effective on May 2, 2005. The history, background, and initiatives which contributed to this decision and comments and arguments from related organizations, scholarly societies, and publishers are described. Finally, its implication for society publishers in Japan is discussed.
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