AACR aggressively raises public donations…while opposing FRPAA and accellerated public access
The mission statement of the AACR and its Foundation for the Prevention and Cure of Cancer lays out a compelling rationale for individual and corporate support of their efforts:
- Prevent and cure cancer through research, education, communication and collaboration
- Foster cancer research and related biomedical science
- Accelerate the dissemination of new research findings among scientists and others dedicated to the conquest of cancer
- Promote science education and training; and advances the understanding of cancer causes, prevention, diagnosis and treatment throughout the world.
On September 5th 2008 the AACR launched a well-orchestrated media-driven appeal for contributions, Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), which was acknowledged to have garnered at least $100 million in contributions and pledges (the 2008 IRS Form 990 for AACR shows a impressive 240% increase in contributions, no doubt attributable to this campaign).
I would certainly seem like some sort of curmudgeon to cast aspersions on the noble cause of curing cancer. I have relatives and friends that have cancer and have not survived cancer. I just happen to believe that with the kind of revenue generated by SU2C and with the mission articulated above, there is a historic opportunity for AACR to acknowledge and support the accellerated dissemination implicit in the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA). Essentially, this legislation proposes to make manuscripts reporting on federally funded research publicly available within six months of publication in a journal, improving on the standard adopted in the current NIH Public Access Policy which states that NIH funded research is accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication. FRPAA also expands the requirement for public access to 10 other federal agencies besides the NIH.
The AACR is on record opposing FRPAA as an institutional publisher signatory of an allied publisher opposition letter posted online. The AACR publishes six highly regarded scientific journals: Cancer Research; Clincal Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; Cancer Prevention Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; and Molecular Cancer Research. Many of the articles published in these popular journals are based upon NIH-funded research and follow the traditional copyright transfer publisher policy: Authors who wish to publish articles and other material in AACR journals must formally transfer copyright to AACR.
The consolidated business statement for 2008 shows that the AACR journal publishing program continues to generate profit, relative to the costs of production (publication expenses $9,698,644, publication income $14,239,945). No doubt that the ability to maintain subscriptions and advertising is supporting the prosperity of the AACR and their own version of the expansion of the fight against cancer. My own opinion is that they should carefully reconsider the decision to oppose the FRPAA legislation, given the success they have had in appealing to the public to be generous in directly funding their own AACR research agenda. These are the same taxpayers, after all, many directly confronting cancer.
