The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has agreed to support Springer's Open Choice program. What that means is that if articles are accepted for publication after a process of rigorous peer-review, they will immediately be published with full open access and deposited in repositories such as PubMed Central, at a flat-rate fee per article of $3,000. Springer's Open Choice program applies to all its journals.
HHMI has a strong commitment to ensuring public access to original research articles. Beginning with papers submitted for publication after January 1, 2008, HHMI will require its scientists to publish their original research articles in journals that allow the articles and supplementary materials to be made freely accessible in a public repository within six months of publication.
HHMI is the largest private funder of biomedical research in the United States and commits more than $500 million a year for research and distributes $80 million in grant support for science education.
HHMI investigators already publish a significant number of research articles in open access journals or in journals with open access options. Under the new policy, HHMI will pay up to $2,000 in open access charges per article with the balance coming from laboratory budgets or other sources.
It is wonderful that one of the largest and most prestigious research institutes in the world, is actively supporting open-access publishing and backing up their words with significant funding
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