News Release

BioMed Central announces open access publishing agreement with HHMI

HMMI to centrally fund publications by its researchers in BioMed Central's open access journals

Business Announcement

BMC (BioMed Central)

LONDON and CHEVY CHASE, MD, August, 20, 2007--BioMed Central, the world’s largest publisher of open access scientific journals, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) today announced a membership agreement under which HHMI will pay the article processing charges for all research published by HHMI investigators in BioMed Central journals. Articles published under this agreement will be made immediately and freely available on the web in their final published form, and will be deposited in international archives including PubMed Central (PMC). The agreement between HHMI and BioMed Central takes effect for articles submitted after September 1, 2007.

This agreement complements HHMI's recently announced open access policy, which requires that the results of research funded by the Institute must be deposited in PubMed Central, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature, not more than six months after publication.

“BioMed Central is pleased to partner with HHMI, helping it to maximize the impact and visibility of the research it funds by encouraging open access publication,” said Dr. Matt Cockerill, publisher of BioMed Central. “Many HHMI researchers already publish in BioMed Central's journals, and this new agreement further emphasizes HHMI’s commitment to making its scientists’ research results freely available to the public and the international scientific community.”

The BioMed Central postpay membership option chosen by HHMI offers the choice of quarterly or monthly invoicing, and provides detailed reporting on the research articles which have been published under the scheme.

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For more information on BioMed Central's Membership schemes, see: http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/membership or contact Charlotte Webber (Press Office) by phone +44 (0)20 7631 9980 or via email press@biomedcentral.com

OR

Robert Brumfield (Fusion PR) by phone 202.898.2000 ext 109 via email robert.brumfield@fusionpr.com

About Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
HHMI is one of the world's largest philanthropies, with laboratories across the United States and grants programs throughout the world. The Institute is a nonprofit medical research organization that employs hundreds of leading biomedical scientists working at the forefront of their fields. In addition, through its grants program and other activities, HHMI is helping to enhance science education at all levels and maintain the vigor of biomedical science worldwide. HHMI's endowment at the end of the 2006 fiscal year was approximately $16.3 billion.

About BioMed Central BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science. In addition to open-access original research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and other subscription-based content.


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