STM NEWSROOM

In case you missed it: Along with others in the research community, STM has responded to NIH’s request for information on limiting publishing costs. We’ll continue to engage with NIH, OSTP, OMB and Congress to share our concerns about grant expense restrictions in publishing and in general. Access the response here.

The CDN provider has recently announced new tools and services for the era of AI. The two latest ones are their Content Signals Policy, which makes robots.txt indications more specific, and responsible AI bot principles. These may help bridge the gap between current practices and evolving legislation by providing effective tools to manage AI bots.

Discussions at the R&I Days centred around the next EU funding programme for research (the successor of Horizon Europe), the new European Competitiveness Fund and the many unresolved questions about how their governance will work. A balance between funding for strategic investments, selected top-down, and blue-sky research (mainly funded through the ERC) will need to…

We’re expecting a busy autumn: after conducting consultations over the summer, the EU Commission will release a strategy for AI in science on 7 October and a Data Union Strategy at the end of October. A consultation was just launched on a Digital Omnibus, a package to review and streamline digital legislation to alleviate compliance burdens…

The Danish Ministry for Culture tasked a dedicated working group to explore questions about the interplay between AI and copyright. They delivered a very good set of recommendations, including recommendations on effective transparency in training data. EU countries will continue debating this topic into the fall, exploring potential solutions to favour AI licensing.

The rise of generative AI has created serious copyright concerns, but also opportunities for savvy publishers and creators. Two upcoming webinars, open to European and national publishers’ associations and their members, can help you get up to speed. TollBit has developed an AI monitoring and monetisation platform already trusted by over 2,400 leading publisher websites. In their upcoming…

Following on July’s USDA memo announcing that it will ‘place America First in provisioning all USDA funds’, the NIH released a statement on ‘Maximising and Safeguarding NIH’s Investment in Foreign Collaborations’. While the text encouragingly notes that ‘the agency conducts and supports international research’ to advance its mission, its subtext is that any support going to foreign entities or activities…

The Trump administration released an executive order last month giving political appointees the responsibility for reviewing and approving all grant decisions, a radical change from prior merit review processes. This builds on the politically motivated cancellation of grants at NIH, NSF and other federal agencies earlier this year and the attacks by the administration on American universities. This movement away…

Federal agencies, including DOE, NIH and NSF, have released plans to implement President Trump’s executive order promoting ‘Gold Standard Science’, pursuant to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) guidance for agencies and request for plans by 22 August. Other agencies may have issued responses by the time this newsletter goes to press, or may subsequently. Additionally, the EO directed…

As noted in last month’s newsletter, NIH has formally proposed a cap on the use of NIH grant funds for publication costs in a blog post and an associated request for information. STM CEO Caroline Sutton met with the NIH Office of Science Policy in August and was told that they are very open to the comments, and want to consider…