Literature Selection Technical Review Committee Reform Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 9009 To amend the Public Health Service Act to increase the transparency of the process of the National Library of Medicine in listing and delisting journals in MEDLINE (or any other current or successor databases or indices), and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 17, 2020 Mr. GOSAR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to increase the transparency of the process of the National Library of Medicine in listing and delisting journals in MEDLINE (or any other current or successor databases or indices), and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Literature Selection 4 Technical Review Committee Reform Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9009.IH H9009 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 9009 IH SEC. 2. JOURNAL COLLECTION OF NATIONAL LIBRARY OF 1 MEDICINE. 2 Title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 3 281 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 467 of 4 such Act (42 U.S.C. 286a–1) the following new section: 5 ‘‘SEC. 468. JOURNAL COLLECTION. 6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In acquiring, preserving, orga- 7 nizing, publishing, and disseminating journals through the 8 National Library of Medicine, including through the Lit- 9 erature Selection Technical Review Committee (or any 10 successor committee) and MEDLINE (or any other cur- 11 rent or successor databases or indices), the Secretary shall 12 comply with the requirements of this section. 13 ‘‘(b) SCORING RUBRIC.— 14 ‘‘(1) SPECIFICATION OF METRICS.—The Sec- 15 retary shall specify and make publicly available the 16 metrics pursuant to which the Library lists and 17 delists journals in the Library’s collections, includ- 18 ing— 19 ‘‘(A) the quality and importance metrics 20 used; 21 ‘‘(B) the ethics policies metrics; and 22 ‘‘(C) the methodology for calculating a 23 journal’s overall rating. 24 ‘‘(2) INITIAL SPECIFICATION.—The Secretary 25 shall comply with paragraph (1) beginning not later 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9009.IH H9009 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 9009 IH than 60 days after the date of enactment of this sec- 1 tion. 2 ‘‘(c) ENSURING INDEPENDENT ADVICE AND EXPER- 3 TISE.—Regarding the members of the Literature Selection 4 Technical Review Committee (and any successor com- 5 mittee): 6 ‘‘(1) INDEPENDENCE.—The Secretary shall ap- 7 point the members without regard to political affili- 8 ation or political campaign activity. 9 ‘‘(2) PROCESS.—The Secretary shall— 10 ‘‘(A) not less than annually, solicit nomina- 11 tions for potential members; and 12 ‘‘(B) before making an appointment— 13 ‘‘(i) provide a publicly accessible 14 mechanism for interested persons to com- 15 ment on the potential member; and 16 ‘‘(ii) take such comments into consid- 17 eration. 18 ‘‘(d) DELISTING PROCESS.— 19 ‘‘(1) NOTIFICATION.—Before delisting a journal 20 from MEDLINE (or any other current or successor 21 databases or indices), the Secretary shall— 22 ‘‘(A) notify the journal of the Secretary’s 23 intention to refer the journal to the Literature 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9009.IH H9009 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 9009 IH Selection Technical Review Committee (or any 1 successor committee) for review; and 2 ‘‘(B) give the journal a period of 60 days, 3 beginning on the date of such notification, to 4 respond to the concerns forming the basis for 5 the referral to the Literature Selection Tech- 6 nical Review Committee (or any successor com- 7 mittee) for review. 8 ‘‘(2) CONCERNS NOT RESOLVED.— 9 ‘‘(A) PROCESS.—If a journal fails during 10 the 60-day period described in paragraph 11 (1)(B) to resolve to the Secretary’s satisfaction 12 the concerns forming the basis for the referral 13 to the Literature Selection Technical Review 14 Committee (or any successor committee) for re- 15 view, the Secretary shall— 16 ‘‘(i) provide a detailed explanation to 17 the journal of the initial concerns and why 18 the journal has not satisfactorily resolved 19 these concerns; and 20 ‘‘(ii) after providing such explanation, 21 issue a decision referring the journal to the 22 Literature Selection Technical Review 23 Committee (or a successor committee) for 24 review. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9009.IH H9009 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 9009 IH ‘‘(B) RIGHT TO BE PRESENT.—A journal 1 being reviewed pursuant to subparagraph 2 (A)(ii)(II) shall have the right to be present at 3 such review. 4 ‘‘(3) PERIOD FOR APPEAL.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If, upon review pursu- 6 ant to paragraph (2)(A)(ii), the Literature Se- 7 lection Technical Review Committee (or any 8 successor committee) recommends that a jour- 9 nal be delisted from MEDLINE (or any other 10 current or successor databases or indices), and 11 the Secretary agrees with such recommendation 12 and issues a decision to delist the journal, the 13 journal shall have a period of 60 days to appeal 14 the Secretary’s decision pursuant to paragraph 15 (4). 16 ‘‘(B) NO CHANGE TO STATUS DURING AP- 17 PEAL.—During the 60-day period under sub- 18 paragraph (A) and during an appeal under 19 paragraph (4), the Secretary shall not make 20 any change in the journal’s status with 21 MEDLINE (or any other current or successor 22 databases or indices). 23 ‘‘(4) APPEALS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9009.IH H9009 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 9009 IH ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 1 establish and make publicly available a stand- 2 ardized process for journals to appeal a decision 3 described in paragraph (3)(A). 4 ‘‘(B) MEETING.—Under the process under 5 subparagraph (A), the Literature Selection 6 Technical Review Committee (or any successor 7 committee) shall determine, at the Committee’s 8 next meeting that takes place at least 30 days 9 after an appeal is filed, whether to recommend 10 that the Secretary’s decision to delist the jour- 11 nal involved should be reversed. Prior to the 12 Committee making such a determination, the 13 journal shall be afforded an opportunity to— 14 ‘‘(i) attend such meeting; and 15 ‘‘(ii) present its appeal in person or, if 16 it so chooses, in writing. 17 ‘‘(C) FINAL RECOMMENDATION.—After 18 meeting pursuant to subparagraph (B) with re- 19 spect to a decision to delist a journal, the Lit- 20 erature Selection Technical Review Committee 21 (or any successor committee) shall— 22 ‘‘(i) make a final recommendation 23 with respect such delisting; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9009.IH H9009 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 9009 IH ‘‘(ii) concurrently with the trans- 1 mission of such final recommendation to 2 the Secretary, notify the journal of such 3 final recommendation. 4 ‘‘(D) FINAL DECISION.—Not later than 30 5 days after receiving a final recommendation 6 pursuant to subparagraph (C), the Secretary 7 shall— 8 ‘‘(i) make a final decision as to wheth- 9 er the journal should be delisted from 10 MEDLINE (or any other current or suc- 11 cessor databases or indices); and 12 ‘‘(ii) notify the journal of such deci- 13 sion, including by providing a detailed ex- 14 planation of such decision. 15 ‘‘(E) POST-DECISION PERIOD.—If the Sec- 16 retary decides pursuant to subparagraph (D) to 17 delist a journal, the Secretary shall— 18 ‘‘(i) give the journal a period of 30 19 days to inform its authors, subscribers, 20 and other relevant parties that the journal 21 will no longer be listed; and 22 ‘‘(ii) refrain from delisting the journal 23 until the conclusion of such 30-day period. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9009.IH H9009 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 9009 IH ‘‘(F) RIGHT TO REAPPLY.—Any journal 1 that is delisted pursuant to this section from 2 MEDLINE (or any other current or successor 3 databases or indices) shall, beginning on the 4 date that is one year after the date of its 5 delisting, have the right to reapply, but not 6 more than once each year, to be re-listed in 7 MEDLINE (or any successor databases or indi- 8 ces). 9 ‘‘(5) PREVIOUSLY DELISTED JOURNALS.—Any 10 journal that was delisted from MEDLINE on or 11 after January 1, 2016, and before the date of enact- 12 ment of this section, shall be given an opportunity 13 during the 60-day period following such date of en- 14 actment to appeal the delisting. Any such appeal 15 shall be resolved pursuant to the process described 16 in paragraph (4).’’. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H9009.IH H9009 SSpencer on DSK126QN23PROD with BILLS