Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 180 / Monday, September 19, 2005 / Notices 54951 

oral, dental and craniofacial diseases. In 

this context it is important for the 

Institute to insure that the future 

configuration of the IRP will maximize 

progress toward the goals that have been 

set for the IRP in the new era of 

biomedical research. 

Charge to the Panel 

Since the Panel is charged with 

assessing the future opportunities and 

challenges for the IRP within broad 

goals that have already been set, the 

focus of the BRP will be to provide 

recommendations for an efficient and 

effective alignment of the IRP with 

directions and opportunities and 

resources available within the broader 

framework of NIH intramural research 

programs and the interest of the 

Institute complementing, rather than 

duplicating research already supported 

through the extramural research 

program of the Institute. To accomplish 

this, the BRP will address challenges to 

the IRP in the context of its mission, its 

relationship with the overall mission of 

the Institute, its position within the 

larger NIH intramural environment, and 

its relationship to the extramural 

program supported by the NIDCR. The 

Panel will be asked to provide advice 

about how to best position the IRP, 

using both current and to-be-developed 

resources, in a way that will maximize 

its contributions to current, emerging 

and future research questions about 

prevention, diagnosis and treatment of 

dental, oral and craniofacial diseases. 

Questions to the Panel 

The specific questions to be addressed 

by the Panel and written public 

comment are drawn from the list of 

topics suggested by the EAC: 

• Innovation/impact of research on 

the broader field including the extent to 

which research conducted in NIDCR IRP 

laboratories influences research 

conducted throughout the world 

• Basic organization of the intramural 

program (laboratory and branch 

structure) including the optimal use of 

resources and opportunities unique to 

NIH-based scientists as well as the 

extent to which the organization 

facilitates partnerships and 

collaborations within the IRP and with 

other research entities (e.g., those 

supported by NIDCR extramural 

research grants, other NIH IRP 

scientists, industry) conducting research 

• Effectiveness of the BSC review 

process in identifying world-class 

innovative research and in providing 

guidance for future research directions 

• Optimal balance and connection 

between clinical and lab-based research 

• Balance between intramural and 

extramural research programs including 

funding levels and scientific topics 

covered by each 

• Quality of post-doctoral training 

(career development) including 

preparation for independent research 

funded by government and nongovernment sources 

• Recruitment issues (underrepresented individuals and missing 

areas of expertise) including specific 

areas to redress gaps 

• Interactions with the Office of the 

Director, other Institutes, central 

services (Office of Research Services, 

Clinical Center, Center for Information 

Technology) including special problems 

or opportunities that may affect the 

mission and directions of the IRP 

Members of the public interested in 

providing their views to the Panel are 

asked to restrict their comments to the 

specific areas outlined above. 

Further Information 

For further information, please 

contact: Dr. Norman S. Braveman, 

Assistant to the Director, NIDCR, 

Building 31, Room 5B55, 31 Center 

Drive, Bethesda, Maryland 20892; 

telephone (301) 594–2089; fax (301) 

480–0964. 

Dated: September 12, 2005. 

Anthony M. Coelho, Jr., 

Acting Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. 05–18602 Filed 9–16–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

Potential Privatization of the Journal 

‘‘Environmental Health Perspectives;’’

Request for Comment 

AGENCY: National Institute of 

Environmental Health Sciences 

(NIEHS), National Institutes of Health 

(NIH), Department of Health and Human 

Services (DHHS). 

ACTION: Request for Comment. 

SUMMARY: For several decades, NIEHS 

has published Environmental Health 

Perspectives (EHP), a leading 

biomedical publication in the field of 

environmental health science, to 

provide a forum for research in 

environmental health science. EHP has 

well fulfilled this purpose, but NIEHS is 

now considering new channels to 

inform scientists, clinicians, patients, 

families, and the general public about 

environmental health research findings. 

NIEHS is exploring web-based and other 

methods to disseminate such 

information and anticipates 

development of a new system to 

communicate important recent findings 

in a timely and efficient manner. 

NIEHS conducts ongoing review of all 

its research, training, and 

communications programs and has 

recently determined that it is now 

appropriate to consider phasing out 

Institute sponsorship of this journal. 

NIEHS has not reached a final decision 

about potential privatization of EHP nor 

has an implementation plan for carrying 

out such a decision been developed. 

Should such a decision be reached, it is 

our goal to implement it in a manner 

that will be least disruptive to the field 

and to authors, reviewers, editorial 

board, staff, and subscribers. The 

current request for comment poses a 

series of questions around core elements 

that may comprise an implementation 

plan for privatization of EHP. These 

elements include: (1) Feasibility of 

privatizing EHP, (2) a business plan for 

continuation of the journal, (3) a 

timeline and plan for transfer of 

responsibility, (4) an editorial policy 

plan, and (5) continued online access. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

October 28, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be 

submitted at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/ 

external/ehp/home.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

EHPfeedback@niehs.nih.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background Information on EHP 

EHP’s mission is to disseminate 

credible environmental and 

occupational health information around 

the world. An overarching goal is to 

raise global awareness of the 

connectivity between the environment 

and human health. EHP is read in nearly 

every country of the world. EHP has an 

impact factor of 3.93 and an Immediacy 

Index of 1.20, ranking the journal 

second of 132 environmental sciences 

journals and fifth of 90 public, 

environmental, and occupational health 

journals. As a full open-access journal, 

EHP provides XML-formatted content to 

the digital archive Pubmed Central. EHP 

also has partnerships with Medscape 

and JSTOR.org (an organization that 

maintains an archive of scholarly 

journal) to facilitate access and 

distribution of EHP’s content. 

Electronic submission and review are 

the norm for the 1,200 manuscripts that 

EHP receives annually, and the rejection 

rate is about 80%. EHP publishes all 

articles within 24 hours of acceptance 

on its Web site (http:// 

54952 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 180 / Monday, September 19, 2005 / Notices 

ehp.niehs.nih.gov/) as EHP-in-Press 

articles. These articles are completely 

citable using CrossRef’s Digital Object 

Identifier system. The Web site is 

visited by approximately 150,000 

unique visitors every month. The timeto-print after publication on the website 

is about 3 months. The EHP Web site 

(http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/) contains all 

current issues, all archival issues, 

foreign language articles, and the 

Student Edition plus teacher lesson 

plans and has a search-by-topic feature. 

The journal publishes monthly issues 

with sections devoted to environmental 

news, environmental medicine, and 

children’s environmental health. On a 

periodic basis, an issue may contain a 

mini-monograph (a group of up to six 

papers that address a single topic). EHP 

also publishes one or two special topical 

issues each year. In total, this full-color 

journal publishes approximately 3,000 

pages annually. 

The journal’s Environews section 

provides balanced and objective 

analyses of topical issues. These articles 

take the form of long, investigative 

features (Focus articles) or brief reports 

(Forum articles). Other articles provide 

balanced analyses of legal, regulatory, 

public policy, and social aspects of 

environmental health (Spheres of 

Influence) and new discoveries or 

approaches in environmental health 

research, remediation, monitoring, and 

public health policy (Innovations). 

Science Selection articles summarize 

selected research articles appearing in 

the same issue, putting current EHP 

research findings into perspective. 

Other services include book reviews of 

important current publications, a 

calendar of events, position 

announcements, and updates on the 

latest news from the NIEHS grants 

division. EHP also publishes a highly 

successful monthly Student Edition and 

sponsors development of teacher lesson 

plans based on environmental news 

articles published within the Student 

Edition. These materials are available in 

print (currently, approximately 5,000 

copies distributed) and on the EHP Web 

site (http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/). 

EHP’s global health initiatives are 

ongoing on four continents (Africa, 

Asia, North America, and South 

America). These programs include 

providing complimentary print 

subscriptions to readers in developing 

countries, publishing a quarterly 

Chinese-language edition (35,000 

distribution), and translating the ‘‘In 

This Issue’’ section of EHP (which 

encapsulates each issue’s news and 

research content) into five languages: 

Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian, and 

Spanish. EHP cooperates with nonEnglish language journals for translation 

and publication of EHP news content in 

EHP sections within their journals. The 

journal works with the University of 

Iowa to provide EHP journal content to 

their eGranary Digital Library WiderNet 

Project. EHP and the Journal of 

Environmental and Occupational 

Medicine have an agreement to copublish selected research articles both 

in English and Chinese. EHP also hosts 

the website for the francophone journal, 

Mali Medical. 

Request for Comment 

The NIEHS invites public input on 

the issue of potential privatization of 

EHP. Please note that the NIEHS has not 

reached a final decision about potential 

privatization of EHP. If the Institute 

decides to move forward with 

privatization, then an implementation 

plan would need to be developed. This 

implementation plan will need to 

address several core topics listed below. 

The NIEHS seeks public input on the 

questions identified for each topic to 

facilitate reaching a decision on 

potential privatization and, if 

appropriate, development of an 

implementation plan. The NIEHS is 

interested in maintaining and enhancing 

the capacity of EHP to be a significant 

resource for researchers, clinicians, 

patients, family members, and the 

general public. We similarly seek to 

maintain and enhance EHP’s reputation, 

credibility, accessibility, and value to 

the scientific and lay communities 

interested in environmental health and 

disease. 

1. Feasibility of privatizing EHP. 

Q1a. Are there likely to be private 

sector commercial or noncommercial 

entities interested in publishing EHP? 

Q1b. Are there any difficulties that 

would be created by transferring 

publication of EHP from a government 

agency to the private sector? If so, please 

elaborate. 

2. A business plan for continuation of 

the journal. 

Q2. What issues should NIEHS 

consider in developing an 

implementation plan for privatizing 

EHP? 

3. A timeline and plan for transfer of 

responsibility. 

Q3. Are there ways to ensure an 

efficient transfer of functions such as 

editorial oversight, subscriber lists, 

archives, and digital content? 

4. An editorial policy plan. 

Q4. How should the scope of EHP’s 

coverage, from news to peer-reviewed 

research, be considered in executing a 

potential privatization? 

5. Online access. 

Q5. How should EHP’s current open 

access policy and commitments to 

provide content to public archives be 

addressed in a potential privatization? 

6. Other considerations. 

Q6. Overall, how would a 

privatization of EHP be an advantage or 

disadvantage to the NIEHS and to 

environmental health science? 

Q7. What other suggestions do you 

have for facilitating communication 

activities at NIEHS? 

Dated: September 8, 2005. 

Samuel Wilson, 

Deputy Director, National Institute of 

Environmental Health Sciences. 

[FR Doc. 05–18596 Filed 9–16–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health 

Services Administration 

Office for Women’s Services; Notice of 

a Meeting 

Pursuant to Public Law 92–463, 

notice is hereby given of a SAMHSA 

Advisory Committee for Women’s 

Services meeting to be held in 

September 2005. 

The meeting will be open and include 

discussions around the activities of 

SAMHSA’s Matrix and women 

involving women and trauma/violence, 

and developing short reports as they 

relate to mental health and substance 

abuse. Also, there will be updates on 

SAMHSA’s reauthorization and 

legislation to reauthorize the Violence 

Against Women Act, as well as, a 

discussion on SAMHSA’s National 

Registry of Evidenced-based Programs 

and Practices. 

Attendance by the public will be 

limited to space available. Public 

comments are welcome. Please 

communicate with the individual listed 

as contact below to make arrangements 

to comment or to request special 

accommodations for persons with 

disabilities. 

Substantive program information and 

a roster of Committee members may be 

obtained by accessing the SAMHSA 

Advisory Councils’ Web site (http:// 

www.samhsa.gov) as soon as possible 

after the meeting or by communicating 

with the contact whose name and 

telephone number are listed below. The 

transcript for the session will also be 

available on the SAMHSA Advisory 

Councils’ website as soon as possible 

after the meeting.