Comment from Anonymous

I am a 3rd year PhD student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering studying Neurophotonics at Boston University. I am able to do my PhD thanks to NIH federal funding of my lab. I've submitted the first paper of my PhD to Nature Communications Biology, a high impact journal for biomedical research. My lab paid for this submission using federal grant funding. It costs $4,390 to publish a paper to Nature Communications Biology. Our lab relies on federal funding to submit our high impact research to high impact journals so that it can be recognized and reach a broader audience to have the highest possible impact and benefit to the scientific community. I would not have been able to publish this paper if not for the federal funding supporting my research. Publishing academic research in peer review journals is the primary way that the scientific community can translate findings in the lab to information benefiting the broader community even outside science. The ability of federally funded scientific laboratories to publish their research would be significantly hindered without the assistance of federal funding. For these reasons I take issue with section 200.461 of the provision. I have also attended many conferences where I have presented my research to both national and international audiences, including the NIH BRAIN Initiative and International Society of Oxygen Transport in Tissue. I was able to attend these conferences thanks to NIH federal funding. Conferences are another way that scientists are able to broaden the impact of their research. I have had many discussions during both talks and poster sessions about ideas that have furthered the progress of both mine and my colleagues research. This improves the impact and productivity of science, and thus conferences are an important avenue through which we can share our findings to broaden the impact of our scientific research. Without federal funding from the NIH I would not have been able to attend these conferences. For these reasons, I believe that Section 200.432 of the proposal will hinder the ability of scientists to broaden the impact of the research and share their findings with the scientific community. For these reasons, I urge the Office of Budget and Management to withdraw the provision.