Q. What is the the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)'s Nelson Memo and how does it change how I share my research?

The Nelson Memo

On August 25, 2022, the leader of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) at the White House, Dr. Alondra Nelson, released a memorandum to the heads of federal agencies which fund research. It was an update to the 2013 OSTP memorandum, Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research, which required that all agencies with $100 million or more in expenditures on research and development had to make the results of that research freely and openly available to the public. Importantly, it allowed for publishers to enforce a 12-month embargo before making the research openly available to all.

The 2022 memo is entitled Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research, but it more commonly goes by The Nelson Memo. In the memo, Dr. Nelson updates the 2013 memo by 1) removing the option of a 12-month embargo and 2) extending the public access policy apply to all federal agencies administering research funding, not just those with more than $100 million. 

Federal agencies were given between 6 and 12 months to develop public access policies in accordance with the new guidance, and they are to be finalized and published no later than December 31, 2024. The new policies must go into effect no later than one year after they are published (December 31, 2025).

We are now awaiting the release of the draft policies, especially those from the many departments with under $100 million in research funds and did not need to develop one formerly.

Relevant Documents and Analysis

•  2022 OSTP Nelson Memo

  Full text of "Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research."

•  2022 Economic Landscape of Federal Public Access Policy

  "OSTP was asked to provide a report to Congress on the potential economic impacts of anticipated federal public access policy changes" outlined in the Nelson Memo.

•  2022 Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research

  This document "identifies a set of desirable characteristics of online, public access data repositories to help ensure that research data are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) to the greatest extent possible, while integrating privacy, security, and other protections."

•  2021 OSTP Congressional Report on Public Access

  "Of the more than 20 Federal departments and agencies subject to the Memorandum, all have developed plans and implemented policies that require Federal scientists and scientists funded by the department or agency to" make their publications freely available 12-months after publication and provide data management plans explaining how they will make the underlying data accessible as well.

•  2013 OSTP Memo on Public Access to Federally Funded Research

  The first guidance offered by the White House and still in place aside from those sections updated or superseded by the 2022 Nelson Memo.

• Public Access to Federally Funded Research (Serials Review 2023)

  From the abstract: "This new memo removes the option of a 12 months embargo, and it extends the requirement agencies with less than $100 million in annual research and development expenditures. This column investigates the possible impacts of the broader policy, including introducing the public access requirement to new agencies and academic disciplines, and how a repository approach to public access might intersect with publisher provided open access."

• US moves to make federally funded research free upon publication (Physics Today)

  "The White House has ordered that by 2026 the results of government-supported research must be published open access, but many questions remain about how the policy will be implemented."

• White House requires immediate public access to all U.S.-funded research papers by 2025 (Science)

  "Policy is a blow to journal paywalls, but its impact on publishing is unclear."

Adapted from Adelphi University

New Guidelines for Metadata

Additionally, the Nelson Memo provides new guidelines for how federal agency public access policies can support “scientific and research integrity” by communicating information about federally funded research. Agencies must create plans to collect such metadata as author names and affiliations, funding agencies, and grant numbers, and to provide persistent digital identifiers (PID) for these metadata whenever possible. Researchers should expect to be asked to obtain such a PID for themselves.

PIDs are a mainstay of scholarly publishing and scholarly infrastructure. They allow for information about entities (people, organizations, publications) to be linked together. When links like these are created, it is easier to answer questions such as “at what times of year do DePauw University researchers publish the most?” or “how has the format of published research output changed over time?” This allows for organizations, including DePauw University and OSTP, to better understand and anticipate future needs of researchers and scholarly infrastructure. 

For those interested in specifics, some of the most well-known PIDS include ORCIDs for people, RORs for organizations (including funders), and DOIs for published research, including articles, datasets, and software packages. To read more about PIDs check out our Recommended Digital Tools LibGuide.