NIH Moves Up Deadline for Complying with the Nelson Memo
Today in @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social, I share some thoughts, along with @9thprime.bsky.social, @lisalibrarian.bsky.social, @irfanullah.bsky.social, and @rickanderson.bsky.social on the NIH's acceptance and acceleration of the Biden Nelson Memo policy scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/05/05/a...
— David Crotty (@dacrotty.bsky.social) May 5, 2025 at 11:41 AM
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On April 30, director of the National Institutes of Health Jay Bhattacharya announced that the deadline for complying with the Office of Science and Technology Policy's Nelson Memo had been moved up from December 31, 2025 to July 1. The news came as a surprise to many, given that the future of the Nelson Memo, which mandates that all federally funded research be published open access by the end of the year, seemed uncertain in light of shifting government priorities under the new presidential administration. (Indeed, NISO hosted a webinar in early April entitled "The Future of Open Access: Beyond the Nelson Memo.") The NIH announcement stressed the government's commitment to making publicly funded research freely available to all, citing a need to build trust in science.
NISO Executive Director Todd Carpenter and his fellow Scholarly Kitchen "chefs" discussed the ramifications of the announcement in a recent post.