Updated Policy on Public Access to Federal Funded Research (Aug. 25, 2022)

Updated policy from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on public access to federally funded research.  In a memorandum to federal departments and agencies, the Acting Director of the OSTP instructed that “as appropriate and consistent with applicable law . . .  all peer-reviewed scholarly publications authored or co-authored by individuals or institutions resulting from federally funded research are [to be] made freely available and publicly accessible by default in agency-designed repositories without any embargo or delay after publication” no later than December 31, 2025.  The updated policy also requires agencies to permit public access to the scientific data underlying such publications and to develop policies for managing “any potential legal, privacy, ethical, technical, intellectual property, or security limitations, and/or any other potential restrictions or limitations on data access, use, and disclosure, including those defined in terms and conditions of funding agreement or award or that convey from a data use agreement or stipulations of an Institutional Review Board.”