Navigating Upcoming Federal Agency Public Access Requirements

If you or your colleagues have been awarded federal funds to conduct your research, you may have heard about some possible changes that could affect how you share your publications and data with the public and how you represent your scholarly profile.   In this blog post, we introduce our guide on the upcoming federal agency public access policies including what you need to know, how you can prepare, and support available to you.

The 2022 memo in a nutshell

In August 2022, a memo titled “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research” was issued by Dr. Alondra Nelson on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The key points from about the memo:

• 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.

Our Guide on the upcoming federal agency public access policies

The NC State University Libraries' OSTP guide acts as a one-stop hub, equipping researchers with what we currently know about how and when these policies may be implemented.  You'll find FAQs on all aspects of the OSTP memo including the following:

What will be required of researchers?

• Immediate public access to publications and data: the memo calls for immediate public access (a shift from prior public access policies that allowed embargoes) to research outputs including peer-reviewed publications such as articles, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, as well as datasets and code, that are supported with funding from federal grants. See below for more details.
• Use persistent identifiers: The memo calls for the use of persistent identifiers (e.g., DOIs for publications, ORCID IDs for researchers) to be used in grant applications and related outputs such as publications.
• Establish policies for how data must be managed and shared: The memo calls for federal agencies to outline plans to establish researcher responsibilities on how federally funded scientific data will be managed and shared.

When will these policies take effect?

• By December 31, 2025, all changes and/or new policies will be in effect. 

What can you do right now to prepare for these changes?

• Use digital persistent identifiers (known as PIDs or DPIs) for all of your publications, data, and code, and for your researcher identity.
  1. Sign up for an ORCID ID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) and connect it to your Unity ID. Start here: https://ci.lib.ncsu.edu/
  2. Make sure your publications and research data have been assigned a PID (such as a DOI or Handle) and link them from your ORCID record.
• Familiarize yourself with the data repositories in your field. The Libraries Data Repositories page provides useful information. If you aren’t aware of any data repositories in your field, check out the Dryad Data repository. Start here: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/do/data-management/sharing-data/data-repositories
• Familiarize yourself with strategies that support sharing of scholarly articles and other types of publications. Start here: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/do/open-research/scholarly-sharing/where-to-share
• Familiarize yourself with the elements of data management and sharing plans, which outline at a high level how you will collect, manage, store, and provide access to your data. Some federal agencies already require DMPs or data management plans (aka data management and sharing plans) including NSF, USDA, DOE, and NIH. Send us a copy of your DMP to get feedback to improve it. Start here: https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/do/data-management/drafting-your-dmp

Where can I find more information? 

Learn more about the upcoming federal agency public access policy changes including public access requirements for both publications and research data by reviewing the full set of FAQs on our guide:  https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/do/grants-and-funding/ostp