Jamie O'Keeffe, John Willinsky, and Lauren Maggio have published "Public Access and Use of Health Research: An Exploratory Study of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy Using Interviews and Surveys of Health Personnel" in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
Here's an excerpt from:
Conclusions: The results provide grounds for expecting the NIH Public Access Policy to have a positive impact on EBP [Evidence-Based Practice] and health care more generally given that between a quarter and a third of participants in this study (1) frequently accessed research literature, (2) expressed an interest in having greater access, and (3) were aware of the policy and expect it to have an impact on their accessing research literature in the future. Results also indicate the value of promoting a greater awareness of the NIH policy, providing training and education in the location and use of the literature, and continuing improvements in the organization of biomedical research for health personnel use.
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