Thanks to a measure passed in last week's House Appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services, research funded by public tax dollars will soon be available to the public.

Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health will soon be required to submit copies of their peer-reviewed journal manuscripts to NIH's online archive, PubMed Central. Those manuscripts would be available to the public for free on the Web site within a year of publication. The NIH already has a 'public access' policy in effect that asks NIH-funded scientists to submit their manuscripts on a voluntary basis.

Some people think that the one-year 'embargo' on the release of the manuscripts is too long, delaying citizens' access to important medical information; they are lobbying for a six-month timeframe.

The fiscal 2007 Labor, HHS, Education appropriations bill still has yet to be considered by the full House. The Senate is expected to vote on its Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill later this summer.