Federal Government Public Access Policies

Here is information about public access policies for some of the larger federal funding agencies. Click on the name of an agency below see expanded information about that agency's policy.

Please note that policy websites, implementation dates, and other aspects of open access requirements are subject to change so we are doing the best we can to keep information up to date on this guide. For general questions about changes in funder policies contact your subject liaisons librarian for assistance. Alternatively, for questions about a particular funding opportunity, please read over your notice of funding opportunity and contact your program officer for additional clarification about expectations in order to ensure that you are receive the latest information specific to your research situation.

Considering proposed changes to the structure and organization of certain federal agencies, the policies of smaller agencies and specific offices of larger agencies have intentionally been left off of this guide. If you are planning to pursue funding from an agency not on this list, please visit their web page, policy documents, and funding opportunities for information about research sharing expectations.

For a comprehensive list of links to policy documents related to publication and data sharing requirements for all federal research funding agencies, including those with smaller extramural research funding budgets, visit the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) resource at https://sparcopen.org/our-work/2022-updated-ostp-policy-guidance/ to review those documents and policy implementation dates.”

Implementation plan

Effective date: December 31, 2025

Articles:

• Final, peer-reviewed manuscripts documenting the results of DoD-funded research are uploaded, at the time of acceptance for publication, to a submission portal hosted and maintained by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). Final, peer-reviewed manuscripts uploaded to the DTIC submission portal are released to the public after a 12-month embargo and final versions of open access journal articles are released immediately upon publication. Publications documenting the results of DoD-funded research will be: available without embargo or delay; made available in machine-readable format; and broadly accessible through assistive devices.

Data:

• Extramural researchers will store data sets underlying or resulting from DoD-funded research in digital repositories. DoD will issue guidance for selection of repositories based on the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Open Science document entitled “Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research

Implementation plan
DOE Directive on Scientific and Technical Information Management (DOE O 241.1C)

Articles:

• "DOE-funded researchers (authors), e.g., DOE federal employees, financial assistance recipients, or contractors (including laboratories), will submit the full-text accepted manuscript of a journal article and associated metadata to DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) through E-Link or through labs’ publication management systems no later than the publication date of the article. If the article itself is published as “open access” (OA), the author may submit the OA article and metadata to DOE.  DOE will provide immediate, free public access to submitted publications through its designated repository DOE PAGES^®." (from DOE Public Access Plan)

Data:

• "The DMSP should specify the use of digital repositories that align, to the extent practicable,with the National Science and Technology Council document entitled "Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research," by the Subcommittee on Open Science of the National Science and Technology Council, May 2022. In general, DOE does not endorse or require sharing in any specific repository and encourages researchers to select the repository that is most appropriate for their data type and discipline, though individual sponsoring research offices may provide specific guidance or designate a specific repository." "Scientific data that are shared publicly, as described in an approved DMSP, must be reported as STI [scientific and technical information] to DOE "

Implementation plan

Effective date: August 15, 2025

Articles:

• FDA-funded researchers must make "the final manuscript and associated metadata for such scholarly publication available in a full-text archive as soon as practicable after the formal publication date" (from SMG 2126.6)
• Options for compliance include:
  • relying on the formal publisher—consistent with its written policies and procedures, written assurances, or an agreement with the National Library of Medicine—to upload the final manuscript and associated metadata to PubMedCentral or another full-text archive;
  • making the final manuscript and the associated metadata available via a full- text archive hosted, managed, and overseen by the extramural researcher and/or a third party; and
  • relying on FDA staff who have been credited as authors on the scholarly publication to post the final manuscript and associated metadata directly to PMC via the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).

Data:

• The FDA will "require extramural researchers to obtain FDA authorization of a Data Management Plan before they begin the extramural research" (SMG 2126.6)
• FDA-funded researchers must, "as soon as practicable after the formal publication date—directly or indirectly make available to the public in a data repository the scientific data underlying such scholarly publication (insofar as the data were generated by the research funded by FDA
  and except insofar as the disclosure is prohibited by law or other federally mandated policies). The extramural researcher must also include metadata associated with the scientific data."
• Options for compliance include:
  • relying on the publisher—consistent with its written policies and procedures or written assurances—to make the scientific data and metadata available in a data repository;
  • making the scientific data and associated metadata available via a data repository hosted, managed, and overseen by the extramural researcher and/or a third party; and
  • working with FDA staff who have been credited as authors on the scholarly publication to post the scientific data and metadata at openFDA.

Implementation plan

Effective date: October 1, 2024

Articles:

• Results of awarded projects should be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
• A copy of each publication must be submitted with the annual or final progress report.

Data:

• Final research data and tools should be shared either when the main findings are accepted for publication or when findings are submitted to the awarding agency.
• Data sharing exclusions: drafts of scientific papers; plans for future research; peer reviews; communications with colleagues; physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples, audio or video tapes); trade secrets; commercial information; materials necessary to be held confidential by a researcher until publication; intellectual property; personnel, medical files, and similar files; if disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; personally identifiable information of study participants; data from human cells or tissues that reveal the identity of the original donors.
• Materials can be shared through the researcher's lab or organization or submitted to a repository.
• Unique biological data, like DNA sequences, should be sent to the appropriate data banks.

NOTE: Requirements for data sharing, publication timelines, and where to submit publications for public access may vary depending on the HHS agency that awarded the grant. For example, NIH grant recipients should defer to the NIH grants policy.

Implementation plan

Effective date: October 1, 2025

Articles:

• A machine readable copy of most appropriate version of a published manuscript (the version of record if possible, if not then the author's accepted manuscript) much be deposited in the IMLS designated repository. The most appropriate version may be the version of record, if that is allowed by the publisher, or it might be the author's accepted manuscript. It must be made available no later than the date of article publication and must be shared without embargo. This policy applies to journal articles, but may also include book chapters, conference proceedings, or editorials. Further instructions regarding the IMLS designated repository have not yet been released as of 2/2025 but will be forthcoming.

Data:

• This policy applies to all data underlying peer-reviewed scholarly publications with exceptions for data that cannot be shared for ethical or legal reasons. Data must be deposited immediately following publication. Researchers have the freedom to choose the repository that they feel is the most appropriate for publishing their research data. Researchers are responsible for ensuring that only research data that meet all disclosure requirements, including all ethical and legal restrictions, are shared publicly.

Implementation plan;

Effective date: already in effect for NASA Science Mission Directorate funded projects

Articles:

• "It is NASA’s policy (per the 2022 OSTP Memorandum) that peer-reviewed publications be made freely available at the time of publication. This supersedes NASA’s previous guidance which allowed for a one-year embargo on publications."

Data:

• "Scientific data underlying peer-reviewed scholarly publications resulting from Federally funded research shall be made freely available and publicly accessible by default at the time of publication, and no embargo by a publisher or others shall be imposed, nor will such be recognized by NASA."
• "All proposals or project plans submitted to NASA for scientific research funding shall include a DMP that describes whether and how data generated through the course of the proposed research3 will be shared and preserved (including timeframe) or explains why data sharing and/or preservation are not possible or scientifically appropriate. At a minimum, DMPs shall describe how data sharing and preservation will enable validation of published results, or how such results could be validated if data are not shared or preserved."

Software: 

• "Scientific software underlying peer-reviewed scholarly publications resulting from Federally funded research must be made freely available and publicly accessible by default at the time of publication."
• "Unrestricted, scientific software developed to support the scientific processing and analysis of data that is produced as part of missions, including software underlying technical reports if practical, must be made freely available at the time of publication of the product that it supports."
• "All proposals or project plans submitted to NASA for scientific research funding will be required to include a Software Management Plan (SMP) that describes whether and how software generated through the course of the proposed research will be shared and preserved (including timeframe) or explains why software sharing and/or preservation are not possible or scientifically appropriate."

Implementation plan

Effective date: October 1, 2025

Articles:

• "Recipients must submit a copy of the author's accepted manuscript (AAM) for any peer-reviewed scholarly article resulting in whole or in part from award activities. Recipients must submit an AAM to NEH no later than the article publication date, defined here as the date the final publisher's version is available online."
• "NEH will also accept the version of record or publisher's version of the article when the applicable publisher agreement explicitly allows this."
• NEH will deposit articles in Knowledge Commons, a free repository that is publicly available.

Data:

• "Recipients must publicly share applied or scientific research datasets produced as a result of funding from a small number of NEH programs, as described in the respective Notices of Funding Opportunity. Recipients will not submit data directly to NEH; rather, they will adhere to a Data Management and Sharing Pan (DMPS) detailing expected points of access and preservation."

Implementation Plan

Effective date: July 1, 2025

Articles:

• "Submission of the electronic version of the [peer-reviewed] Author Accepted Manuscript to PubMed Central upon its acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication." Or
• "Submission of the Final Published Article to PubMed Central from journals or publishers with formal agreements with NLM [National Library of Medicine], upon the Official Date of Publication, for public availability without embargo."

Implementation Plan Notice

Effective date: January 25, 2023

Data:

• "Submission of a Data Management and Sharing Plan outlining how scientific data and any accompanying metadata will be managed and shared, taking into account any potential restrictions or limitations."
• "Compliance with the awardee’s plan as approved by the NIH ICO [Institute, Center, Office]."

Implementation plan not yet released

Effective date: Expected to be released soon with immediate effect

Articles:

• NOAA Library (encouraged, other repositories may be acceptable)

Data:

• NCEI: National Center for Environmental Information (encouraged, other repositories may be acceptable)

Implementation plan [Draft]

Effective date: Expected October 1, 2025 pending release of new PAPPG

Articles:

• "Final versions of manuscripts accepted for publication after peer-review in either scholarly journals or juried conference proceedings must be deposited in NSF’s Public Access Repository (PAR)."

Data:

• "Scientific datasets underlying peer-reviewed scholarly publications resulting from federally funded research should be made freely available and publicly accessible by default at the time of publication in a repository which assigns a persistent identifier (e.g., DOI) to such deposited datasets, and the persistent identifier must be recorded in NSF’s Public Access Repository as part of the annual and final annual project reporting process."