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The article reports on a policy which has been mandated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the chief public funding body for medical research in the United States. With the policy the NIH has mandated that all medical researchers publish their research results on an open access website and that all papers resulting from research that the NIH has funded be made freely available to the public no later than one year after they have been published. The policy was developed in an effort to promote open access to research findings.

This article presents summaries of papers from other medical journals. Studies done on bariatric surgery show that the surgery prolongs life in obese people. Research in the U.S. showed that preoperative ischaemia of the arm reduced heart muscle injury during bypass surgery. A study of hypertension in children and teenagers demonstrated that the condition is often unrecognised in children in the U.S.

The article mentions the "NIH Public Access Policy" from the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The NIH policy on public access to research papers asks researchers to submit their peer-reviewed studies to the PubMed Central database for archiving. The NIH is a major source of funding for the biomedical industry.

Offers medical news briefs for four research papers that were published in JAMA or Lancet during 2005. Researchers found that erectile dysfunction could be a signal for cardiovascular disease in American men. Proton pump inhibitors and H2 receptor antagonists are being linked to the increased incidence of Clostridium difficile infections in the United Kingdom. A study on dementia found that it is a global problem that will aflict 81 million people by 2040. A study in Scotland found that sudden infant death syndrome is associated with complications in other pregnancies.

Reports on the publication of a retraction in the United States journal "Science" of a research article on the drug commonly known as ecstasy. Admission of researchers that their results were invalid; Incorrect labeling of a bottle causing 9 out of 10 primates in the study to be given methamphetamine; Conclusions of the original paper; Questions about the peer review process; Comments from professor Colin Blakemore, the chief executive designate of the Medical Research Council.