Funding agencies punish researchers who don’t comply with open-access policy
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.027835
Nature : The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the UK’s Wellcome Trust—two of the world’s largest funders of research—have begun punishing researchers for not abiding by the organizations’ open-access policies. In 2012 both agencies had announced that they would begin withholding grant money for open-access violations. In the past year, the Wellcome Trust has withheld 63 grant payments because papers resulting from the grants weren’t open-access. NIH has similarly delayed funding since July 2013, although it doesn’t keep track of how many grants have been withheld. As a result of its strict enforcement policies, Wellcome Trust has seen an increase in compliance from 55% in March 2012 to 69% currently. NIH’s compliance rate has risen from 75% to 82%.
