Public Access to Funded Research: What You Need to Know

Key Points

• New federal policies will soon require the results of federally funded research to be immediately and freely shared with the public.
• All researchers receiving federal funding will be required to obtain and use a digital persistent identifier such as an ORCID iD.
• Researchers can contact the Library Scholarly Communications Group with questions at scholarlycommlib-l@listserv.uconn.edu.

Overview

In August 2022, the U. S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memorandum on public access to federally funded research (known as “Nelson Memo”). This memo outlines new requirements that will affect both faculty and students who conduct research using federal funding. Some key points:

• The goal of the Nelson Memo is to provide free, immediate (without embargo), and equitable access to research that is federally funded.
• It applies to all federal agencies, including those providing funding in the Humanities & Social Sciences.
• It applies to both peer reviewed publications and underlying scientific data.

Timeline and Key Dates

• August 25, 2022: Nelson Memo published.
• December 31, 2024: Deadline for agencies to publish final public access policies.
• December 31, 2025: New policies become effective no later than this date.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my funding agency is subject to this new policy?

The memo directs that all federal funding agencies will be subject to this new policy, the individual agencies will have discretion in policy development. Grants.gov lists the federal agencies that award grants.

When will my research begin to be affected?

The memo requires that all agency policies be in effect by December 31, 2025. It’s likely that most agencies will take the full amount of time to develop and prepare their policies and procedures. You can expect your federally funded research projects that receive funding in 2025 or later to be affected by any new policies or procedures that are developed in response to the memo. 

Will I be required to publish as open access?

Not necessarily. Publishing as open access is only one way to provide immediate availability and accessibility to publications and data. Another way is to share the final manuscript in a repository designated by the funding agency (for example, PubMed Central, NIH's designated repository)  or a repository managed by a trusted institution. However, depending on the publisher's self-archive policy, an author may not be able to share the final manuscript without embargo. If the publisher requires an embargo, you might need to choose a different publisher or choose to publish as open access, which may involve an Article Processing Charge (APC).

What types of research outputs are included?

Peer-reviewed publications, especially journal articles, and other outputs such as books, book chapters, conference proceedings, and more may be included in the final policies. Importantly, funded researchers will also be required to share their research datasets. Be sure to check your federal funding agency’s policy when it becomes available. 

What counts as “scientific data”? 

In the Nelson Memo, 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."

I’m a researcher – what can I do now to prepare for these coming changes?

• Start using persistent identifiers (PIDs), also known as digital persistent identifiers (DPIs), for your researcher identity, publications, and data.
  • If you do not already have an ORCID account, go to orcid.org and sign up for an account
  • Connect your ORCID account to UConn.
  • Include the Direct Object Identifiers (DOIs) for your research outputs (such as publications and datasets) in your ORCID record. Data you deposit into a subject repository or Zenodo should be assigned a DOI.
  • Funders often use PIDs to identify the funding body and specific grants. Make sure to reference those PIDs in your publications, reports, and in your ORCID account.

• Develop data management plans (DMPs) as part of your project planning
  • Some federal agencies, like NSF, already require DMPs and many more agencies will in the coming months. DMPs will help ensure that you have viable plans for the collection, management, long-term storage, and access to your data.
    
    

Are there any existing policy examples that I can review so I have an idea what a public access policy looks like?

Yes. Science.gov provides a list of current U.S. Federal Agencies’ Public Access Plans that are subject to the 2013 OSTP memo.

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