Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, August 25, 2022: Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research

This memorandum provides policy guidance to federal agencies with research and development expenditures on updating their public access policies. In accordance with this memorandum, OSTP recommends that federal agencies, to the extent consistent with applicable law: 1. Update their public access policies as soon as possible, and no later than December 31, 2025, to make publications and their supporting data resulting from federally funded research publicly accessible without an embargo on their free and public release; 2. Establish transparent procedures that ensure scientific and research integrity is maintained in public access policies; and, 3. Coordinate with OSTP to ensure equitable delivery of federally funded research results and data. Includes background and policy principles, lessons learned from COVID-19, updates to policy guidance on increasing equitable access to Federally funded research results including peer-reviewed scholarly publications and scientific data, ensuring scientific and research integrity in agency public access policies, public access plan coordination among federal agencies, general provisions, and taking next steps together