NIH RFI: Maximizing Research Funds by Limiting Allowable Publishing Costs

AMIA's letter to NIH supporting Option 4 for limiting publication costs in federally funded research. Option 4 would cap publication spending at 0.8% of direct costs or $20,000, whichever is greater. We argue this approach balances fiscal responsibility with research flexibility, particularly important for medical informatics research requiring multi-faceted dissemination strategies across diverse audiences. We contend that rigid per-publication limits in other options would force researchers away from appropriate high-quality journals and potentially suppress important negative results.