Note: updated policy information on Dissemination of Research Findings can be found here.
NHMRC has announced changes to its policy on the dissemination of research findings. This policy has been developed by the Research Committee and Council of the NHMRC, in consultation with other institutions. The policy came into effect on 1 July 2012.
The new policy brings NHMRC into line with other international health and medical research funding agencies such as the US-National Institutes of Health, the Wellcome Trust and the UK Medical Research Council. It will involve approximately 3,000 publications per annum.
Letters to all institutions administering NHMRC funding will outline the policy. Further information on the implementation of the policy will be available on the NHMRC website shortly.
Summary of the revised Policy Statement on the dissemination of research findings
The revised policy states that:
The Australian Government makes a major investment in research to support its essential role in improving the wellbeing of our society. To maximise the benefits from research, publications resulting from research activities must be disseminated as broadly as possible to allow access by other researchers and the wider community.
NHMRC acknowledges that researchers take into account a wide range of factors in deciding on the best outlets for publications arising from their research.
Such considerations include the status and reputation of a journal, book, publisher or conference, the peer review process of evaluating their research outputs, access by other stakeholders to their work, the likely impact of their work on users of research and the further dissemination and production of knowledge.
Taking heed of these considerations, NHMRC wants to ensure the widest possible dissemination of the research supported by NHMRC funding, in the most effective manner and at the earliest opportunity.
NHMRC therefore requires that any publications arising from an NHMRC supported research project must be deposited into an open access institutional repository within a twelve month period from the date of publication.
NHMRC understands that some researchers may not be able to meet the new requirements initially because of current legal or contractual obligations. The support material being developed by NHMRC will provide further guidance on this and other scenarios.
Previous NHMRC Policy
In January 2007, the NHMRC and ARC released a joint statement on the dissemination of research findings that encouraged “researchers to consider the benefits of depositing their data and any publications arising from a research project in an appropriate subject and/or institutional repository”.
This statement is reflected in the current NHMRC policy:
The Australian Government makes a major investment in research to support its essential role in improving the wellbeing of our society. To maximise the benefits from research, findings need to be disseminated as broadly as possible to allow access by other researchers and the wider community.
NHMRC acknowledges that researchers take into account a wide range of factors in deciding on the best outlets for publications arising from their research. Such considerations include the status and reputation of a journal or publisher, the peer review process of evaluating their research outputs, access by other stakeholders to their work, the likely impact of their work on users of research and the further dissemination and production of knowledge. Taking heed of these considerations, NHMRC wants to ensure the widest possible dissemination of the research supported by NHMRC funding, in the most effective manner and at the earliest opportunity.
NHMRC therefore encourages researchers to consider the benefits of depositing their data and any publications arising from a research project in an appropriate subject and/or institutional repository wherever such a repository is available to the researcher(s). If a researcher is not intending to deposit the data from a project in a repository within a six month period, s/he should include the reasons in the project’s Final Report. Any research outputs that have been or will be deposited in appropriate repositories should be identified in the Final Report.
All research funded by NHMRC to be accessible free of charge - The Conversation 21 February 2012
Read Professor Warwick Anderson's Op-Ed in The Conversation All research funded by NHMRC to be accessible free of charge, published 21 February 2012.
Letter to the Editor, The Australian newspaper – sent 22 February 2012
The suggestion in this morning’s online article by Julie Hare (‘NHMRC CEO supports Elsevier boycott; says all research must be made open access’, 22 Feb 2012) that the NHMRC has a position in relation to the Elsevier boycott is incorrect.
The NHMRC article (‘All research funded by NHMRC to be accessible free of charge’, 21 Feb 2012) corrected a statement in The Conversation (Academics Line up to Boycott world’s biggest journal article, 15 Feb 2012) about the NHMRC’s use of journal impact factors in peer review.
In the context of the current discussion about international issues for access to research outputs, NHMRC also announced a policy change for published research outputs to be placed in institutional repositories within 12 months of publication.
This is an NHMRC policy that has been agreed by its Research Committee and Council and is not related to the Elsevier boycott or the international issues. Any suggestion that NHMRC is linked in any way to the Elsevier Boycott is misleading.
NHMRC is an impartial Australian Government agency with responsibility under the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992 to administer the Australian Government’s health and medical research funding.
Professor Warwick Anderson AM
Chief Executive Officer
National Health and Medical Research Council