University Times

Open access to federally funded research is getting a boost from the White House in response to a petition signed by more than 65,700 individuals seeking free online access to scientific journal articles arising from taxpayer-funded research.

A memorandum issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is giving federal agencies with more than $100 million in annual research and development expenditures six months to draft plans to increase public access to the research results.

In the Feb. 22 memorandum, OSTP director John Holdren stated that agencies must “ensure that the public can read, download and analyze in digital form final peer-reviewed manuscripts or final published documents within a timeframe that is appropriate for each type of research conducted or sponsored by the agency.”

Plans must include free access to publications’ metadata upon publication, with links, when possible, to the full text and other materials that will be posted after an embargo period.

The memo suggested a 12-month post-publication embargo as a guideline, although agencies are given flexibility in the timeframe based on their field and mission.

Repositories could be maintained by the individual federal agency, in conjunction with other federal agencies or in partnerships with outsiders such as scholarly and professional associations, publishers and libraries, the memo stated.

The OSTP order is similar in purpose to the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2013 (FASTR), introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), who has supported broader access to federally funded research in earlier legislation. (See Feb. 23, 2012, University Times.) FASTR (HR 708), introduced Feb. 14, was referred to the House committee on oversight and government reform.

In a prepared release, Doyle stated, “The directive is going to be instrumental to advancing U.S. leadership in the sciences,” calling it “a big step toward reducing the exorbitant fees our university libraries have to pay to give their students access to academic journals. At a time when many public universities and libraries nationwide must deal with severe budget cuts, this White House decision reflects a recognition that we must extend the reach of our taxpayer dollars to ensure that our students get a better education.

“I am pleased that this directive also encourages agencies to maximize the creative reuse of data contained in the articles made available as a result of better public access policy. My legislation, FASTR, also expresses support for enabling solutions such as computational analysis to allow researchers to make the most effective use of publicly available research.”

Rush Miller, director of the University Library System, told the University Times: “The presidential directive is a very welcome statement of intent and principles by the administration, and outlines goals we all share. It does a reasonably good job of articulating the elements that agencies need to consider when creating policies to ensure that the public can access and reuse the results of federally funded research.

“It’s an important step forward, but Congress still urgently needs to work to pass the Fair Access in Science and Technology Research Act to permanently codify the White House directive. This has to happen to make open access the law of the land and not just the preference of a president.”

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The OSTP policy memorandum is posted at www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/ostp_public_access_memo_2013.pdf.

Holdren’s response to the “We the People” petition is posted at https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/increasing-public-access-results-scientific-research. The “We the People” forum promises a response from the White House to petitions that exceed a threshold number of signatures.

—Kimberly K. Barlow