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Comply with Public Access Policies

Information on funder mandates for public access to articles and data generated by funded research.

New public access policies announced by federal agencies in 2024 will become effective by December 31, 2025. Some policies will come into effect earlier than this date.

In 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released an updated memorandum on public access: 

 

What effect does this have on my research?

The 2022 OSTP public access memo (also known as the "Nelson memo") affects articles and data resulting from U.S. federal research funding, and it applies to all federal funders regardless of their budget.

Funders are not required to implement updated policies until the end of 2025. However, funders have the option to implement updated policies ahead of this time, and some have already done so. Researchers should closely review their funder's public access policy at the time of proposal submission, as the policy may have changed from previous award cycles. 

What kind of changes in funder policies should I expect?

The 2022 memo recommended that federal funders issue expanded policies that will:

  • Make publications freely and publicly accessible in agency-designated repositories without any embargo or delay after publication
  • Extend policies to affect a broader range of publications beyond journal articles, such as peer-reviewed book chapters, editorials, and conference proceedings 
  • Improve infrastructural requirements for where and how articles and data from funded research are shared, including using appropriate metadata (such as author names, affiliations, and funding sources), applying persistent digital identifiers (PIDs) for all research outputs, and making article text machine readable 
  • Apply data sharing requirements to require the ethical sharing of research data needed to validate the conclusions of articles immediately on publication of those articles, and develop approaches for sharing funded scientific data not associated with research publications (such as reporting variables that were collected but were not associated with any finding significant enough for publication)

How does this new public access memo affect previous public access policies?

This new memo expands on and adds to the provisions already in place from the 2013 OSTP public access memo:

OSTP guidance timeline: In 2013, the OSTP Holdren Memo on public access was issued. In 2022, the OSTP Nelson Memo expanding public access was issued. In 2023, federal funding agencies submitted expanded public access proposals to the United States OMB. December 2024 was the deadline for final versions of agencies' guidance to be issued to the public. On December 31, 2025 new agency guidance will become effective.

Updated public access policies

This guide includes expanded information pages for some funders (found in the left side navigation column), and additional funder-specific pages will be added. In the meantime, links for other funders are listed below. Whenever possible, these links lead to a funder's public access home page where the latest version of their public access policy can be accessed. Please note that funder websites and other online sources of information may include links to earlier draft versions of funder policies.

For help or updates, please reach out to the VCU Libraries (see contact boxes, left). We're available for training or to consult with your team!