Funder Public Access Policies: 2022 Updated OSTP Guidance

The 2022 OSTP Memo directs all federal research funding agencies to develop plans for public access to peer reviewed scholarly publications resulting from funded research. The relevant part of the memo is section 3.a:

"Federal agencies should update or develop new public access plans for ensuring, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, that all peer reviewed scholarly publications authored or coauthored by individuals or institutions resulting from federally funded research are made freely available and publicly accessible by default in agency-designated repositories without any embargo or delay after publication." [emphasis in original]

"Plans should describe:

1. How peer-reviewed scholarly publications should be made publicly accessible;
2. How to maximize equitable reach of public access to peer-reviewed scholarly publications, including by providing free online access to peer-reviewed scholarly publications in formats that allow for machine-readability and enabling broad accessibility through assistive devices; and,
3. The circumstances or prerequisites needed to make the publications freely and publicly available by default, including any use and re-use rights, and which restrictions, including attribution, may apply."

"Peer-reviewed scholarly publications" is defined as always including peer-reviewed research articles or final manuscripts published in scholarly journals. Peer-reviewed book chapters, editorials, and conference proceedings may be included in the final plans.

The 2022 OSTP Memo includes research data in its directions for federal funding agencies to update or create public access plans. The relevant sections of the memo are 3.b, 3.c, and 3.d. These sections are summarized below; consult the memo in full for the most precise language.

Section 3.b requires that funding agencies' public access plans include provisions for access to scientific data*, including:

• Making data supporting scholarly publications freely available and publicly accessible at the time of publication
• Providing guidance for sharing other federally-funded data that does not support scholarly publications
• Providing guidance on desirable characteristics of digital repositories

*Scientific data is defined as "the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as of sufficient quality to validate and replicate research findings. Such scientific data do not include laboratory notebooks, preliminary analyses, case report forms, drafts of scientific papers, plans for future research, peer-reviews, communications with colleagues, or physical objects and materials, such as laboratory specimens, artifacts, or field notes."

Section 3.c requires that funding agencies' public access plans outline policies that define researchers' responsibilities for managing and sharing data, including:

• Describing any potential limitations on data sharing
• Planning to maximize appropriate data sharing, even when potential limitations are present
• Identifying the expected repository/repositories for data deposit

Section 3.d directs federal funding agencies to allow researchers to include publication and data-related costs in research budgets.