Dr. Alondra Nelson of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memo on August 25, 2022 which recommends that all federal agencies develop new (or update existing) plans indicating how they will be providing public access to the outcomes of research that is federally funded. Some key points:
- The goal of the memo is to provide free, immediate (without embargo), and equitable access to research that is federally funded.
- Applies to all federal agencies.
- Applies to both peer-reviewed publications and underlying scientific data.
OSTP "Nelson Memo" (PDF): "Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research"
Link: White House Press Release
The memo recommends that federal agencies:
- Describe how public access will be provided to publications including machine-readable formats
- Describe how public access will be provided to scientific data that underlies publications
- Indicate “researcher responsibilities on how federally funded scientific data will be managed and shared”
- Allow researchers to include costs associated with complying with public access policies
- Use persistent identifiers for research outputs, researchers, and awards
Timeline and Key dates:
Federal agencies will be developing their plans over the near future, with key dates indicated in the memo.
- August 25, 2022: "Nelson Memo" published.
- February 21, 2023: Public access policies due (1) - Federal agencies with more than $100 million in annual research and development (R&D) expenditures submit their new or updated public access policies addressing items in Section 3 of the memo.
- August 20, 2023: Public access policies due (2) - Federal agencies with $100 million or less in annual R&D expenditures submit their new or updated public access policies addressing items in Section 3 of the memo.
- December 31, 2024: Final public access policies due - Deadline for agencies to publish final policies addressing all requirements outlined in the memo. Policies to go into effect 1 year after publication.
- December 31, 2025: New policies are in effect - New policies will be in effect no later than this date.
Who is impacted?
The OSTP policy may impact several stakeholders, including:
- Primary investigators
- Research administrators
- Academic leaders
- Publishers
- Librarians
- Scholarly communications experts
- Advocacy organizations
How federal agencies and stakeholders will respond to the policy is evolving.
TTU Resources
ThinkTech Institutional Repository and TTU's Data Management options
