Category Archives: oa.obama_directive

New Guidance to Ensure Federally Funded Research Data Equitably Benefits All of America | The White House

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“To help ensure that access is shared equitably by all Americans, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has been working for nearly a decade to ensure that Federal agencies with research and development budgets of at least $100 million develop plans to deposit Federally funded data into online digital repositories.

To continue this effort, today OSTP is releasing the report Guidance on Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research. This guidance contains clearly defined desirable characteristics for two classes of online research data repositories: a general class appropriate for all types of Federally funded data—including free and easy access—and a specific class that has special considerations for the sharing of human data, including additional data security and privacy considerations. Federal agencies can use this guidance to provide more consistent information to their research communities about sharing Federally funded data with the public. 

Agencies can also use this guidance to ensure uniformity as they invest in their own digital repository infrastructure and to make their research data resources more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. It is expected that this guidance will not be static, but rather, will be updated as needed, as new modes of data storage and management emerge and agency needs evolve.  Ultimately, this guidance—along with the agency efforts detailed in OSTP’s recent report to Congress—will help make Federally funded research data more accessible to the American public. The release of this guidance is one of many steps that OSTP is taking to advance equitable delivery of research and strengthen Federal public access policies….”

Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research

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“A key element of the required data management plans is specification of the digital, online, public access data repository or repositories researchers will use for preserving, maintaining, and providing access to Federally supported research data. While some agencies designate specific repositories to be used for particular types of data (e.g., genomic data, topographical data) or a particular type of research (e.g., Arctic research, social sciences research), for much Federally funded research, the selection of a suitable repository is delegated to the researcher or their institutions. Some agencies provide information to assist researchers in the selection of data repositories. However, this information is inconsistent across agencies, including among those that support research in similar or related disciplines. Until now, agencies had not identified the desirable characteristics of data repositories on which to base their assistance to researchers and their institutions. To improve the management and sharing of data from Federally funded research, agencies agreed to leverage the SOS to identify a consistent set of desirable characteristics for data repositories that all agencies could incorporate into the instructions they provide to the research community for selecting data repositories. By establishing common expectations, agencies intend to reduce the complexity for the research community–including investigators, program officers, data managers, librarians, and others–in complying with Federal data sharing policies. Federal agencies can also use this set of characteristics to develop or identify suitable repositories for particular types of data. To carry out this work, agencies within the SOS drew upon existing expertise and experience with data management and sharing. They also reviewed existing criteria promulgated by non-governmental organizations involved in the certification of data repositories (e.g., International Standards Organization, International Science Council). Agencies also took into account input received on a draft set of characteristics issued for public comment in January 2020 (Box 1)….

This guidance document presents the set of desirable characteristics for repositories agreed to by Federal agencies, reflecting the input that OSTP and SOS received and evaluated. It addresses a nearterm need to provide greater consistency across agencies, recognizing that future steps will be needed to better coordinate data storage and management to make data from Federally funded research more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR), 4 as well as more equitable, inclusive, secure, and trustworthy. The endeavor to improve public access to Federally-supported research makes for a more open government, facilitates evidence-based decision making, and yields greater returns on Americans’ investments in R&D. This guidance document constitutes one set of tools that agencies can use to advance those goals….”

 

[Open letter Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi on the OA provisions of USICA]

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“On behalf of these 12 national and regional library, publishing, funding, research and advocacy organizations, we urge you to protect the provision ensuring that taxpayers are guaranteed timely, free access to the results of publicly-funded research (Section 2527) in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S.1260) during conference negotiations between the House and Senate….

Despite the success of the open access database for COVID-related research, the majority of taxpayer-funded research outputs are still locked behind publisher paywalls or inaccessible in proprietary databases, stifling the broad dissemination of knowledge and our ability to innovate for the public good. The language on public access in Section 2527 of S.1260 is a crucial step towards making taxpayer-funded research readily available and fully usable by scientists and the public alike. We were pleased to see the Senate support the language on public access when it passed S. 1260 and urge you to maintain this language in the final bill….”

Public Access Language in the U.S. Innovation & Competition Act (USICA) – SPARC

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“The House and Senate are currently considering a key legislative package aimed at bolstering America’s science and technology investments. The Senate bill, called the U.S. Innovation & Competition Act (USICA), includes language that supports providing public access to taxpayer-funded research results. 

Section 2527 of USICA would codify the current policy established by President Obama’s 2013 White House Memorandum on Increasing Public Access to Federally Funded Scientific Research by “directing federal agencies funding more than $100 million annually in research and development expenditures to provide for free online public access to federally-funded research no later than 12 months after publication in peer-reviewed journals, preferably sooner.” 

This language signals Congress’ continued support for making taxpayer-funded research readily available and fully usable by scientists and the public alike. SPARC supports maintaining this provision, even as we continue to advocate for a zero-embargo national open access policy. 

Current Status: On March 28th, the Senate cleared a procedural hurdle to begin the conference process with the House. The House is expected to officially call for a House-Senate Conference Committee to work out differences between the two bills in the coming days….”

Planetary Data System: Information for Data Proposers

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“In response to a 2013 federal mandate the NASA Plan for Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research was developed to guide the management of and access to research data and peer-reviewed publications. Accordingly, the NASA Guidebook for Proposers describes the requirement that all proposals submitted under a NASA funding opportunity are required to submit a Data Management Plan. This website contains information and links that NASA’s Planetary Data System (PDS) believes will be helpful in preparing your proposal and your Data Management Plan, or simply as you develop a plan for archiving your data even if not as part of a funded proposal. If you have additional questions contact either the PDS or the relevant NASA Program Officer.

The intent of this website is to provide potential data providers with an overview of the appropriateness of the PDS as an archive for their data, the procedure for requesting letters of support for grant proposals, and the steps that a data provider would take in the generation of a PDS-compliant archive….”

Last updated October 2021.

Full article: Providing Public Access to Grey Literature at the National Transportation Library

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Abstract:  The National Transportation Library (NTL) at the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) provides national and international access to the crucial transportation information that falls within the scope of grey literature, including the results of U.S. government funded research. Founded as an all-digital library in 1998, NTL’s collections include full-text-born digital and digitized publications, data products, and other resources. All items are in the public domain and available for reuse without restriction. Since 2016, NTL has led the implementation of the USDOT’s Official Public Access Plan issued in response to the February 22, 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies entitled Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research. This paper discusses the effect this plan has had on a grey literature library and the efforts to create and maintain a public access repository, as well as exploring relationships between repository platform, contents, and people.

 

Providing Public Access to Grey Literature at the National Transportation Library: The Serials Librarian: Vol 0, No 0

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Abstract:  The National Transportation Library (NTL) at the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) provides national and international access to the crucial transportation information that falls within the scope of grey literature, including the results of U.S. government funded research. Founded as an all-digital library in 1998, NTL’s collections include full-text-born digital and digitized publications, data products, and other resources. All items are in the public domain and available for reuse without restriction. Since 2016, NTL has led the implementation of the USDOT’s Official Public Access Plan issued in response to the February 22, 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies entitled Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research. This paper discusses the effect this plan has had on a grey literature library and the efforts to create and maintain a public access repository, as well as exploring relationships between repository platform, contents, and people.

 

Federal Register :: Request for Information: Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code Resulting From Federally Funded Research

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“OSTP, and the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Subcommittee on Open Science (SOS), are engaged in ongoing efforts to facilitate implementation and compliance with the 2013 memorandum Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research?[1] and to address recommended actions made by the Government Accountability Office in a November 2019 report.[2] OSTP and the SOS continue to explore opportunities to increase access to unclassified published research, digital scientific data, and code supported by the U.S. Government. This RFI aims to provide all interested individuals and organizations with the opportunity to provide recommendations on approaches for ensuring broad public access to the peer-reviewed scholarly publications, data, and code that result from federally funded scientific research.

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 11:59 p.m. ET on March 16, 2020….”

WHITE HOUSE: Trump weighs executive order on scientific research — Tuesday, December 17, 2019 — www.eenews.net

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“White House officials are working on an executive order that would boost public access to federally funded research, prompting publishers to panic about the future of their business models, according to people familiar with the plan.

Ostensibly, the order would follow longtime bipartisan interest in improving public access to research that is paid for by taxpayers.

It is expected to require that publicly funded science be obtainable for free immediately, building on an Obama initiative, multiple sources said.

A memo adopted in 2013 mandated that the results of such research be made available within one year of publication.

Though there is generally broad support for public access, publishing groups like the Association of American Publishers worry that a tougher order would upend their subscription-based business model.

Once it caught wind of the effort, AAP began drafting a sharply worded letter of concern to the White House, multiple sources said. The letter could be sent as early as tomorrow.

About a dozen sources told E&E News that they were aware the White House has been considering an executive order but the details remain murky. A senior administration official declined to comment on “internal deliberative processes that may or may not be happening.” …”

US GAO Recommends Actions to Improve Public Access to Research Results – Association of Research Libraries

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“The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released its study, Additional Actions Needed to Improve Public Access to Research Results. The report examines the extent of US agencies’ progress implementing plans to increase public access to federally funded research results (both publications and data), per the 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memo directing the development of such plans. The report contains a review of progress across 16 agencies, and issues 37 recommendations for executive action at both the individual agency and interagency level, in such areas as repository development or guidance, requirements for data management plans (DMPs), and compliance checking.

Next month, at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) “Implementing Effective Data Practices” conference, participants—research officers, librarians, tool-builders, and others in the research community—will hear from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy (DOE), and private funding agencies on these issues, including data management plans, repositories, and compliance. ARL is committed to working with the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) on recommendations for intra-institutional workflows and guidelines, and to partnering with the agencies to make publicly funded research outputs findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable….”

» Open letter on the White House public access directive The Occasional Pamphlet

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“As has been widely reported, this past Friday the White House directed essentially all federal funding agencies to develop open access policies over the next few months. I wrote the letter below to be forwarded to faculty at the Harvard schools with open-access policies, to inform them of this important new directive and its relation to the existing Harvard policies….”

» Open letter on the White House public access directive The Occasional Pamphlet

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“As has been widely reported, this past Friday the White House directed essentially all federal funding agencies to develop open access policies over the next few months. I wrote the letter below to be forwarded to faculty at the Harvard schools with open-access policies, to inform them of this important new directive and its relation to the existing Harvard policies….”

View of Open Data Meets Digital Curation: An Investigation of Practices and Needs

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Abstract:  In the United States, research funded by the government produces a significant portion of data. US law mandates that these data should be freely available to the public through ‘public access’, which is defined as fully discoverable and usable by the public. The U.S. government executive branch supported the public access requirements by issuing an Executive Directive titled ‘Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded ScientificResearch’ that required federal agencies with annual research and development expenditures of more than $100 million to create public access plans by 22 August 2013. The directive applied to 19 federal agencies, some with multiple divisions. Additional direction for this initiative was provided by the Executive Order ‘Making Open and Machine Readable the New Default for Government Information’  which was accompanied by a memorandum with specific guidelines for information management andinstructions to find ways to reduce compliance costs through interagency cooperation.In late 2013, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) funded the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to conduct a project to help IMLS and its constituents understand the implications of the US federal public access mandate and howneeds and gaps in digital curation can best be addressed. Our project has three research components: (1) a structured content analysis of federal agency plans supporting public  access to data and publications, identifying both commonalities and differences among plans; (2) case studies (interviews and analysis of project deliverables) of seven projects previously funded by IMLS to identify lessons about skills, capabilities and institutional arrangements that can facilitate data curation activities; and (3) a gap analysis of continuing education and readiness assessment of the workforce. Research and cultural institutions urgently need to rethink the professional identities of those responsible for collecting, organizing, and preserving data for future use. This paper reports on a project to help inform further investments.

USGS opens more science data — GCN

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“The U.S. Geological Survey plans to enhance online access by requiring that electronic copies of USGS-funded research be made available through the USGS Publications Warehouse. The data used to support the research findings must also be available for free when the associated study is published. That machine-readable information will be available via the USGS Science Data Catalog.

According to the recently approved plan, starting Oct. 1, 2016, any research that the USGS funds, including related datasets, must be made freely available to the public no later than a year after publication. The USGS will make exceptions where access must be restricted because of security, privacy, confidentiality or other constraints, agency officials said.

 

 

Specifically, final manuscripts in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and USGS publications are put into the USGS’s internal Information Product Data System repository, or “dark archive.” Within 12 months, research is released from the publisher or dark archive and made available for download, free of charge. Upon initial publication, the research must include a minimum set of machine-readable metadata elements to facilitate discovery….”