Access to Federally-Funded Research Findings and Data (US0116)

Many important scientific and tech- nological discoveries, including those that have helped mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic, have been supported by American tax dollars. Yet frequently, the results of such Federally-funded research are out of reach for many Americans, available only for a cost or with unnecessary delays. These barriers to accessing Federally-supported research deepen inequalities, as funding disadvantages faced by under-resourced institutions like minority-serv- ing colleges and universities prevent communities from accessing the results of research that taxpayers have funded. To tackle these obstacles and unlock new possibilities for further innovation and participation in science, the Federal Government previously delivered guidance to agencies to develop plans for greater public access to taxpayer-funded research.

Looking forward, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking new steps to expand and accelerate access to pub- licly-funded research results by ensuring that publications and associated data resulting from Federally funded research are freely and publicly available without delay after publication. Making data underpinning research publications more readily available improves transparency into Federally-supported work, enabling others to replicate and build on research findings. Going forward, the Government commits to supporting access to Feder- ally-funded science and data through several mechanisms, including through the National Science and Technol- ogy Council’s Subcommittee on Open Science; by permitting researchers to include publication and data sharing costs in their research budget proposals to Federal grant programs; by launching programs aimed at awarding more grants to early-stage researchers as well as encouraging a diverse pool of award applicants; and by exploring new incentive structures to recognize institutions and researchers who are supporting public access to data and research.

Action Plan Review

Commitment 4: Public access to federally funded research
Implementing agency: National Science and Technology Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy.

For a complete description of the commitment, see pages 5–6 in the U.S. 2022–2024 action plan: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/United-States_Action-Plan_2022-2024_December.pdf.

Context and objectives
The point of departure for this commitment is the status quo in which the results of much of the federally funded research—that is, the scientific and technological knowledge built thanks to taxpayer support—stays out of reach of most students and academics, who can only access it if they pay for it or after unnecessary delays. These barriers further deepen existing inequalities, as they are greatest for those in under-resourced institutions such as minority-serving universities and community colleges. Some measures have already been taken to tackle them, including the publication of federal guidance for agencies to develop plans to widen public access.

On these bases, this commitment—clearly relevant to the OGP principle of transparency—seeks to ensure that both publications and the associated data resulting from federally funded research are freely and publicly available without delay once they are published. In other words, it seeks to end the usual embargo that allows journals or aggregators to own articles and related data for 12 months, after which they are charged to gain immediate access.

The commitment states that it will seek to achieve this objective through several mechanisms, including by permitting researchers to include publication and data sharing costs in their research budget proposals to federal grant programs, launching programs aimed at awarding more grants to early stage researchers as well as encouraging a diverse pool of award applicants, and exploring new incentive structures to recognize institutions and researchers who support public access to data and research. The first mechanism seems to be the main point of the commitment, with the second more focused on equity than data transparency, and the third relatively unclear as to what the new incentive structures would be like.

This commitment was carried over from the previous NAP, which in turn carried it over from its predecessor. NAP4’s commitment on public access to federally funded research was implemented with a much higher level of ambition than it had as written, becoming what a civil society stakeholder characterized as “a bright spot in the IRM report on the 4^th national action plan.” [4] Beyond the publication of the promised recommendations report, it yielded federal guidance mandating all federal agencies to update their public access policies before a certain date.

Potential for results: Substantial
An interviewed civil society stakeholder agreed that there is much value in continuing this longstanding effort to open science, now shifting the spotlight towards users, while its predecessors tended to focus on the supply side. In particular, they pointed out the need to undo some of the damage caused by the previous administration, which “censored information, politicized information, [and] defunded relevant scientific research.” In contrast, “under the Biden administration, there was a sea change from day one in terms of access to COVID data, along with explicit discussions of science, scientific integrity, etc.; so the commitment to broaden public access to federally funded research findings and data builds on previous work […] It’s a real commitment that’s backed by people who believe in it and are working on it and are accountable for it.” [5]

Opportunities, challenges, and recommendations during implementation
To realize its potential, the commitment should be implemented boldly, in partnership with the academic community, and with a clear focus on easing access by the final users of published articles and related data.

The text of the commitment does not specify whether its implementation will include academic or civil society stakeholders. It is strongly advisable that it does.

The main solution provided to open up access to the public—allowing researchers to include publication and data sharing costs in their research budget proposals to federal grant programs—will achieve its goal by further subsidizing the rent-seeking academic publishing industry. It is key for consultation with the wider academic community to include discussion of the implications of the approach chosen and the possible existence of supplementary or alternative ways to tackle the issue at hand. An additional consideration would be to establish an open federal repository of all research outputs produced with federal funding.