Comment on OMB-2026-0034-0001
Wilson Ornithological SocietyOpposeAdvocacy
Summary: The Wilson Ornithological Society opposes the proposed regulations because they would restrict the use of federal research grants to cover publication costs for peer-reviewed journals. They argue that these restrictions will harm mission-driven organizations, reduce independent publishing alternatives, and undermine the impact of federal research investments.
The Wilson Ornithological Society (WOS) is a not-for-profit society best known for producing the quarterly Wilson Journal of Ornithology, the scientific, peer-reviewed journal supported by the Society since 1888. The WOS is concerned that the proposed OMB regulations would severely prohibit or at best, restrict the use of federal research grants to support high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific publications. The Society substantially underwrites the cost of producing The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, but depends upon author contributions to make published research freely available to all readers as Open Access articles. Most authors use funds from grants to cover the US$2990 article processing fee. This amount is a tiny fraction of the total cost of most scientific research projects, yet the publication of results in a peer-reviewed journal represents the culmination of every research project and is the mechanism by which scientific inquiry becomes public knowledge and the basis for conservation efforts.
Restrictions on publication cost recovery will harm our mission-driven organization and reduce independent alternatives to commercial scientific publishing. Without the ability to recoup reasonable publication costs, the WOS will have fewer resources to support the field of ornithology through our mentorship programs and grants in support of research and bird conservation. Society publishers like the WOS strengthen the marketplace of ideas by sustaining independent, mission-driven outlets for scientific exchange.
The proposal to disallow application of federal grant funds to the cost of peer-reviewed publication will have vast unintended consequences for American science in general – undermining the impact of federal research investments, weakening U.S. competitiveness, and threatening independent scientific inquiry and debate. We respectfully urge Congress to consider language in Appropriations legislation that preserves researchers’ ability to recover reasonable, grant-related publication expenses and rejects policies prohibiting or conditioning the eligibility of publication costs for federally funded research.