At NIH, policy is a Swiss Army knife. It can be used to address the safe handling of an emerging biotechnology, it can be applied to strengthen our national security, and it can also be used as a set of strategic levers deployed to drive cultural change. Policy success stories at NIH include the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules which allowed for the nascent field of recombinant DNA to flourish into the ubiquitous technology it is today. Additionally, the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy made clear that data sharing should be treated as a fundamental aspect of research and it must be the norm and not the exception since rapid, open sharing of ideas is at the core of every scientific breakthrough.
Regardless of the purpose of the policy, the one constant is that the public must have trust in the scientific enterprise to maximize the benefits. Trust in science can only be achieved through openness and maximum transparency.
Whether NIH is funding basic research into brain functioning with C. elegans, or a clinical trial exploring the latest immunotherapy approach that shows promise in treating cancer, the public is entitled to have access to these findings as quickly as possible.
NIH has long been in a leader in providing public access to NIH-supported research. In fact, our 2008 Public Access Policy has made more than 1.5 million articles freely available to the public through PubMed Central. That policy did allow for a maximum embargo period of up to 12 months before the public could access the results.
In 2024 NIH took bold steps to increasing the speedy access to research findings. We revised our Public Access Policy to eliminate the embargo period so that researchers, students, and members of the public have rapid access to these findings. NIH leadership believes strongly that transparency in all we do is critical and that we should not waste a moment in fulfilling our promise to the public. This commitment is evidenced by the fact that one of Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s first acts as NIH Director was to announce that the effective date of the Public Access Policy would move up to July 1, 2025.
Implementing the Public Access Policy as soon as possible will ensure the grass doesn’t grow under our feet. The increased speed in which people will have access to NIH-supported research results will stimulate new avenues of thought, promote an increase in collaborative opportunities, lead to new treatments, and allow the public to be confident in the quality of the research they are funding through their tax dollars.
Improving the health of all Americans is not a linear path and it is fraught with challenges. It is our job as policymakers to make sure there are robust systems in place so that the public can be confident that the science we produce is rigorous, reproducible, and meaningful – and that scientists are held accountable in telling us what works and what doesn’t.
