[Insight-users] IMAGINE ... Open Letter to the U.S. Congress signed by 25 Nobel Prize Winners

[Luis Ibanez]

   <http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2004/08/nobel082604.pdf>

"As scientists and Nobel laureates, we are writing today
  to express our strong support for the House Appropriations
  Committee’s recent direction to NIH to develop an open,
  taxpayer access policy requiring that a complete electronic
  text of any manuscript reporting work supported by NIH grants
  or contracts be supplied to the National Library of Medicine's
  PubMed Central. We believe the time is now for all Members of
  Congress to support this enlightened policy."

...

"There’s no question, open access truly expands shared knowledge
  across scientific fields -- it is the best path for accelerating
  multi-disciplinary breakthroughs in research."

....

"The National Institutes of Health has the means today to promote
  open access to taxpayer-funded research – through the National
  Library of Medicine. If the proposal put forth in the House of
  Representatives is adopted, NIH grantees may be expected to provide
  to the Library an electronic copy of the final version of all
  manuscripts accepted for publication, after peer review, in legitimate
  medical and scientific journals. At the time of publication, NIH would
  make these reports freely available to all through their digital
  library archive, PubMed Central (PMC)."


....

"There is widespread acknowledgement that the current model for
  scientific publishing is failing us. An increase in the volume
  of research output, rising prices and static library budgets mean
  that libraries are struggling to purchase subscriptions to all the
  scientific journals needed."

....

For a full version:

    <http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2004/08/nobel082604.pdf>

Dated  August 26, 2004.

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Signed by Twenty Five Nobel Laureates

Peter Agre Chemistry 2003
Sidney Altman Chemistry 1989
Paul Berg Chemistry 1980
Michael Bishop Physiology or Medicine 1989
Baruch Blumberg Physiology or Medicine 1976
Gunter Blobel Physiology or Medicine 1999
Paul Boyer Chemistry 1997
Sydney Brenner Physiology or Medicine 2002
Johann Deisenhofer Chemistry 1988
Edmond Fischer Physiology or Medicine 1992
Paul Greengard Physiology or Medicine 2000
Leland Hartwell Physiology or Medicine 2001
Robert Horvitz Physiology or Medicine 2002
Eric Kandel Physiology or Medicine 2000
Arthur Kornberg Physiology or Medicine 1959
Roderick MacKinnon Chemistry 2003
Kary Mullis Chemistry 1993
Ferid Murad Physiology or Medicine 1998
Joseph Murray Physiology or Medicine 1990
Marshall Nirenberg Physiology or Medicine 1968
Stanley Prusiner Physiology or Medicine 1997
Richard Roberts Physiology or Medicine 1993
Hamilton Smith Physiology or Medicine 1978
Harold Varmus Physiology or Medicine 1989
James Watson Physiology or Medicine 1962