Researchers urged to avoid restrictive pacts

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF Health (NIH) has proposed a set of guidelines urging scientific researchers to avoid entering into contracts that limit distribution of their findings.

The draft guidelines respond to concerns raised in the report of a panel that NIH director Harold E. Varmus appointed in 1998. The panel discovered many restraints on intellectual property stemming from contractual arrangements between researchers and companies. These restraints prevented the publication of data from some scientific projects, the panel reported.

The new guidelines stress the importance of making findings available for scrutiny within the scientific community. To promote such scrutiny, the NIH advises universities to preserve their ability to share research. When obtaining materials such as laboratory equipment, cells, chemicals, and research animals from a company, some universities sign agreements that allow the company to determine with whom the university can share the material and the discoveries resulting from it.

The guidelines discourage such agreements except when research material is unique, unobtainable from other sources, or already patented. The guidelines assert that institutions funded by the NIH have "an obligation to preserve research freedom and ensure timely disclosure of their scientists' research findings." The NIH recommends a delay of no more than thirty days from completion of research to the release of scientific results; the delay is meant to allow for the filing of patents and the deletion of proprietary information. According to the guidelines, "Excessive publication delays or requirements for editorial control, approval of publications, or withholding of data all undermine the credibility of research results."

The NIH hopes the guidelines will become the industry standard for transfer of research materials. They will be revised in the fall to take into account public comments. The guidelines are online at . The panel report that brought about the guidelines can be viewed at . e

Copyright American Association of University Professors Sep/Oct 1999
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