OSTP Issues New Policy Guidance: Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has today issued new policy guidance that updates the 2013 Holdren memo on open access. The new guidance can be found at

https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/08/25/breakthroughs-for-alldelivering-equitable-access-to-americas-research/

This new guidance extends the Holdren memo in a number of important ways. It applies to all agencies funding research, not just those with budgets over $100 Million. It eliminates the optional 12-month embargo period for publications. And it strengthens provisions for timely access to research data. There are many details in the new guidance that are worth studying; for example, it calls for the adoption of various persistent identifiers (PIDs).

Note that, much like the Holdren memo, this will take several years to play out. Individual agencies have to formulate policies and implementation plans and schedules, and then implement them. The new memo contains timeline parameters for various aspects of the policy guidance.

Our colleagues at the Association of Research Libraries have a bit of additional background at

https://www.arl.org/news/arl-celebrates-biden-harris-administrations-historic-policy-to-make-federally-funded-research-immediately-available/

Clifford Lynch
Director, CNI