Bhattacharya says NIH likely to seek comment next week on 'reasonable' publication fees

Key question is whether journals pay their peer reviewers or just charge taxpayers a lot to read research they already funded "for the prestige of the journal," NIH director tells Just the News.

By Greg Piper

Published: August 1, 2025 8:39pm

The National Institutes of Health will likely issue a request for information next week, and "definitely" before Labor Day, on how much to let science journals charge NIH to make government-funded research open for all to read, Director Jay Bhattacharya told Just the News Friday night.

He had issued the pledge to crack down on "excessive publisher fees" for research already paid for by taxpayers nearly a month ago, but did not then specify how NIH would go about deciding what costs are "reasonable." Bhattacharya said he can't give a specific date because agency lawyers are still reviewing the planned RFI.

It's a complicated policy question because of wide variation on how much journals charge for "open access" to NIH-supported research, without paywalls, Bhattacharya told Just the News. If a journal is expensive but pays its peer reviewers, "that's a reasonable thing to pay for" in NIH fees, but not if the high cost is "just for the prestige of the journal."