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Support the option to cite preprints in NIH grants

As of 1/22/2017, we are no longer collecting signatures.

In December 2016, FASEB sent a statement to the NIH that discouraged the use of preprints in grant applications in response to an NIH request for information. On their letterhead, they claim that they are “Representing 125,000 researchers.” Because of this claim, their letter (signed only by the FASEB President) could be given disproportionate weight by the NIH. Mindful of the fact that, in 1999, scientific societies dashed plans for a NIH-sponsored and scientist-supported preprint server, we want to ensure that history does not repeat itself.

We, junior and senior scientists of the ASAPbio Board of Directors, wish to address FASEB’s concerns with preprints and tell the NIH that their statement doesn’t speak for many practicing scientists.

Please cosign the statement below by January 22 if you think the NIH should give scientists the option of using preprints as evidence of productivity in grant applications, following the recent policies of the Wellcome Trust, MRC, HFSP, Simons Foundation, and Helmsley Foundation. We will send this statement, a list of all signatories, and a detailed point-by-point rebuttal to the NIH, FASEB, and other societies.

While we disagree with FASEB’s specific arguments against preprints, ASAPbio plans to undertake an active campaign of engaging scientific societies about the roles they can play with preprints. Scientific societies have long served researchers by providing them with opportunities to share unpublished data through poster and oral presentations at meetings. Today’s technology enables this sharing to flourish in the digital space as well as the physical.

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“We support the option to cite preprints in NIH grant applications and reports.”