CHEST announces a new embargo policy that puts them on the Embargo Watch Honor Roll

More than 16 months ago, just a few weeks after Embargo Watch was born, I wrote about a “freely available but embargoed” policy at CHEST, published by the American College of Chest Physicians. Here was that policy:

Embargo Policy:
Even though they appear online, CHEST Papers In Press are embargoed from media coverage until they appear in a forthcoming print issue of CHEST. When a Paper in Press appears in a print issue of CHEST, the article will adhere to the standard CHEST embargo policy. For questions regarding CHEST embargo policies, please contact the ACCP Public Relations Department…

As I noted then, comparing the policy to one at the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that has since been changed:

The basic idea is the same: Papers are available to any HighWire subscriber, but embargoed for press coverage. The differences: The PDFs of the papers themselves don’t mention the embargo, and it’s not clear how long the embargo lasts.

I didn’t like their “freely available but embargoed” policy any more than I liked any other. So you can imagine that I was quite pleased to see this land in my inbox this morning:

CBS breaks embargo on stem cells-brain tumor study, won’t face sanctions

A CBS news service broke the embargo early this morning on a study using stem cells to treat cognitive problems in people with brain tumors. From an email to the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR’s) press list at 9:51 a.m. Eastern today:

Due to an embargo break, the embargo on the press release “Stem Cell Treatment May Restore Cognitive Function in Patients with Brain Cancer,” which had been previously set at 12:05 a.m. on Friday July 15, 2011, is released. Reporters and editors planning to do the story can release their items at this time.

AACR’s Michele Sharp tells Embargo Watch: