Actually, to set the record straight: only 2 of those 4 OA mandates  
are new. ASF mandated OA in October 2006 and SFI mandated OA in Feb  
2009.

The HRBI mandate is a (welcome) upgrade from what was merely a "strong  
encouragement" policy in Feb 28. The Telethon Italy mandate sounds  
like it's entirely new.

(Is this, then, only an announcement that the biological output of  
these 4 institutions will also be deposited in UKPMC?)

With the Harvard Business School Mandate (#148 worldwide) this brings  
the total number of OA mandates to #150 (44 funder mandates and 106  
institutional and departmental mandates). See ROARMAP: http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/

On 28-Feb-10, at 9:12 PM, Peter Suber wrote:

> [Forwarding from the Wellcome Trust.  --Peter Suber.]
>
>
> European research funders throw weight behind UK open access  
> repository
>
> 1 March 2010
>
> Four European research funders have today added their support to the  
> open access repository UK PubMed Central (UKPMC) by agreeing that  
> the life sciences research outputs made possible with their funding  
> are made freely available through this repository.
>
> Launched in January 2007, UKPMC is a free-to-access digital archive  
> of full-text, peer-reviewed biomedical and life sciences research.  
> As of February 2010, it holds over 1.7 million full text articles.  
> The ambition of the repository is to become the information resource  
> of choice for the UK biomedical and health research communities and  
> eventually to expand to become 'Europe PubMed Central'.
>
> Today, this aim takes a step closer as four European research- 
> funding organisations - the Health Research Board Ireland and  
> Science Foundation Ireland, Telethon Italy and the Austrian Science  
> Fund - have agreed to participate in UKPMC. The funders will mandate  
> that all biomedical research outputs that arise from their funding  
> are made freely available - typically within six months of  
> publication - from the UKPMC repository.
>
> The development has been welcomed by Sir Mark Walport, Director of  
> the Wellcome Trust, one of the principal funders of UKPMC:
>
> "Free access to peer-reviewed research is essential for facilitating  
> progress in biomedicine. I am delighted that these European funders  
> have thrown their support behind UKPMC, and hope that other European  
> research funders will follow their example. This should enable us to  
> build on the success of the repository and expand to a Europe-wide  
> service."
>
> The four European funders will take part in 'Phase I' of UKPMC, and  
> as such will be provided with a fully-managed repository service,  
> along with a manuscript submission system to allow their researchers  
> to archive their papers in the UKPMC repository. Access to the Grant  
> Reporting System is also enabled, allowing researchers to report on  
> the outputs of their grants.
>
> Lucia Monaco, Chief Scientific Officer, Telethon Italy, commented  
> that "as a charity funded by patients, we are excited about the  
> opportunity to make the primary outputs of our research freely  
> available to scientists, patients, donors and the general public  
> through UKPMC. The world-wide visibility offered by UKPMC through  
> its connection to PMC and the European prospect it offers have made  
> it the repository of choice for Telethon-supported publications"
>
> Funders will also benefit from the developments being made to the  
> UKPMC service. Key developments include providing the functionality  
> - through text and data mining technologies - to integrate research  
> articles with a range of other online sources, such as gene, protein  
> and chemical compound databases, and to integrate a range of  
> bibliographic databases - including Medline, Patents and Agricola -  
> into a single, seamless discovery tool.
>
> Phase I funding is based on a simple 'pay-as-you-go' model in which  
> a small fee is charged for each author manuscript that is deposited  
> in the UKPMC repository (to cover the cost of converting a  
> manuscript to XML). All ongoing infrastructure costs will continue  
> to be met by the existing UKPMC funders.
>
> It is anticipated that Phase I will run until Summer 2011, to be  
> followed by Phase II, a fully fledged Europe PubMed Central with a  
> range of additional, value-added services.
>
> Contact
> Craig Brierley
> Senior Media Officer
> Wellcome Trust
> T +44 (0)20 7611 7329
> E [log in to unmask]
>
> Notes for editors
>
> UK PubMed Central (UKPMC) is a free digital archive of biomedical  
> and life sciences journal literature. Based on PubMed Central, the  
> US National Institutes of Health free digital archive, UKPMC  
> provides a stable and permanent online archive of full-text peer  
> reviewed research publications. UKPMC is funded by the Arthritis  
> Research Campaign, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research  
> Council, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Chief  
> Scientist Office, Medical Research Council, National Institute for  
> Health Research and the Wellcome Trust. The UKPMC project is managed  
> by the British Library on behalf of the UKPMC Funders Group.
> http://ukpmc.ac.uk/
>
> The Wellcome Trust is a global charity dedicated to achieving  
> extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports  
> the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical  
> humanities. Its breadth of support includes public engagement,  
> education and the application of research to improve health. It is  
> independent of both political and commercial interests.
> http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/
>
> [PS:  Also see the version of this press release at the Wellcome  
> Trust web site, February 28, 2010.]
> http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2010/WTX058744.htm
>