NEWS

NIH Studies and Mandatory Public Access

Applies to All Peer-Reviewed Articles Accepted for Publication On or After April 7, 2008

On January 11, 2008 NIH posted its revised—and now mandatory—Public Access policy. The changes in policy correspond to recently enacted legislation, which reads, "The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law."

The following are important for investigators under this new NIH policy:

• The NIH Public Access Policy applies to all peer-reviewed articles that arise, in whole or in part, from direct costs funded by NIH, or from NIH staff, that are accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008.

• Institutions and investigators are responsible for ensuring that any publishing or copyright agreements concerning submitted articles fully comply with the Policy.

• PubMed Central (PMC) is the NIH digital archive of full-text, peer-reviewed journal articles. Its content is publicly accessible and integrated with other databases.

• The final, peer-reviewed manuscript includes all graphics and supplemental materials that are associated with the article.

Beginning May 25, 2008, anyone submitting an application, proposal or progress report to the NIH must include the PMC or NIH Manuscript Submission reference number when citing applicable articles that arise from their NIH funded research. This policy includes applications submitted to the NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.

Significant Increase in Peer-Reviewed Publications

60% Increase Since FY 2005

Peer-Reviewed Publications

The scholarly output of the faculty at Baystate Medical Center as quantified by the number of peer-reviewed publications has shown a significant increase in the past 2 years (see Figure). The number of peer-reviewed publications has shown a steady rise, from 109 in fiscal year 2005 to 174 in fiscal year 2007, which is a 60% increase in 2 years.

All faculty publications and presentations are tracked in the online Baystate Medical Center Scholarly Publications Database (http://www.scholarlypubs.org), which is the database that is used for Department and institutional tracking. This database is available to everyone at Baystate. Individuals can enter their own new publications and presentations into the database, or email the information for entry. All entries are independently verified for accuracy. Individuals can also run custom reports by date range, faculty groups, and types of activity (eg, peer-reviewed, books, book chapters, presentation, or other). For more information, see the Faculty Publications Database overview page on the Academic Affairs site on e-Workplace.

Center of Excellence in Apoptosis Research Established at the Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute (PVLSI)

The PVLSI received a grant from the John Adams Innovation Institute to develop the Center of Excellence in Apoptosis Research (CEAR). One of the three research clusters at PVLSI, CEAR is dedicated to the identification and regulation of the signaling pathways that regulate apoptosis in a tissue-specific manner..

If you are interested in the research or clinical aspects of apoptosis, you are invited to join CEAR. About 45 physicians, scientists and engineers from UMass Amherst, PVLSI, and Baystate Medical Center are involved with CEAR. An overview of CEAR and additional information is available on the CEAR website at http://www.pvlsi.org/cear.html.