A provision mandating public access to research published by NIH-funded scientists has survived in the funding bill making its way through Congress this week.

The provision was originally part of a funding bill that President George W. Bush vetoed last month. It mandates that the NIH adopt a policy requiring agency-funded scientists to post their published research on the agency's publicly-accessible digital archive, PubMed Central, within 12 months of appearing in peer-reviewed journals.

The specifics of that policy are vague in the bill and will be left to the NIH to hammer out should the law be passed. For example, it remains unclear whether the law would affect previous grantees or just current and future grantees, Peter Suber, an open access advocate, told The Scientist. "It will take NIH a while to figure out which policy it wants to adopt."