NSF offers update on public access commitment
With the release of the Public Access plan, "Today’s Data, Tomorrow’s Discoveries," the National Science Foundation (NSF) continues its commitment to expand public access to the results of its funded research.
In accordance with its stated plan, NSF will make the published results of federally funded research freely available to the public within one year of publication. This NSF requirement will apply to new awards resulting from proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 25, 2016, which will be the effective date of the updated Proposal and Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG).
About public access
NSF’s Public Access plan (NSF 15-52) describes a set of steps that meet the policy objectives set forth in the Feb. 22, 2013, memorandum issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research. These include making copies of articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and juried conference papers resulting from NSF awards available to the public free of charge no more than 12 months after initial publication.
The NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) provides mechanisms that enable NSF-funded investigators to meet this deposit requirement for publications and to include the relevant information in their project reports. NSF-PAR also provides search mechanisms to enable the public to find and use these articles and papers. Please note that the existing NSF Data Management requirement specified in the Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II.C.2.j remains unchanged.
About the pilot
In order to gain early feedback on NSF’s Public Access solution for publications, NSF will begin a pilot following release of the beta version of the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) in December and January 2016. The pilot will provide NSF with early feedback from the research community to evaluate the NSF Public Access solution from both the public’s perspective and from that of the principal investigator (PIs) and co-PI(s).
Who can participate in the pilot?
PIs or co-PIs from any active or closed awards from NSF are encouraged to participate in the pilot provided they know their Research.gov/FastLane credentials and have a copy of the published journal or juried conference paper.
Additionally, NSF will reach out to select PIs/co-PIs with recent awards to elicit volunteers for an enhanced pilot. These PIs/co-PIs will be asked to use NSF-PAR and several new project reporting features during the period of the pilot.
How you can help
As the beta launch nears, NSF encourages all PIs/co-PIs to begin voluntarily depositing publications in NSF-PAR starting in December and January 2016. Detailed instructions on how to deposit publications in NSF-PAR will be available on Research.gov.
For more information about public access, please see the Public Access Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If you have any questions about the upcoming Public Access pilot, please feel free to reach out by emailing nsf-par@nsf.gov.
