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The OSTP Public Access Guidance: Headlines, Details, and Impact Recording

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On August 25, 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a significant update to their existing guidance on public access to publications resulting from federally funded research. The charge to the agencies related to this new policy are as follows: 1. Update their public access policies as soon as possible, and no later than December 31st, 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 3. Coordinate with OSTP to ensure equitable delivery of federally funded research results and data Although much of the focus to date has been the elimination of the nearly decade-old 12-month embargo period, the scope of the new policy and accompanying Economic Impact Report go far beyond the OSTP’s 2013 Memorandum on Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research. The new policy includes books and data as well as journal and research articles, removes the $100K threshold for agency-compliance, and specifies increased cooperation between federal agencies as they seek to comply. With an aggressive implementation deadline, the “TO DO” list seems lengthy and overwhelming and currently there seem to be more questions than answers: In addition to the largely expanded scope, what else has changed? Which changes are the most significant and why? What are the immediate and longer-term implications for all stakeholders? How will this policy impact the scholarly communication ecosystem at scale … and what are some potential unintended consequences? Can we reasonably predict and model the policy’s impact, financial and otherwise? This panel of experts will help stakeholders across the scholarly and research ecosystem better understand the letter of the new policy, as well as its impact on their organization and the larger industry landscape.

On August 25, 2022, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a significant update to their existing guidance on public access to publications resulting from federally funded research. The charge to the agencies related to this new policy are as follows:


1. Update their public access policies as soon as possible, and no later than December 31st, 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
3. Coordinate with OSTP to ensure equitable delivery of federally funded research results and data

Although much of the focus to date has been the elimination of the nearly decade-old 12-month embargo period, the scope of the new policy and accompanying Economic Impact Report go far beyond the OSTP’s 2013 Memorandum on Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research. The new policy includes books [NIH1] as well as research articles, removes the $100M threshold for agency-compliance, and specifies increased cooperation between federal agencies as they seek to comply. With an aggressive implementation deadline, the “TO DO” list seems lengthy and overwhelming and currently there seem to be more questions than answers.

In addition to the largely expanded scope, what else has changed? Which changes are the most significant and why? What are the immediate and longer-term implications for all stakeholders? How will this policy impact the scholarly communication ecosystem at scale … and what are some potential unintended consequences? Can we reasonably predict and model the policy’s impact, financial and otherwise?

Lori Carlin is Chief Commercial Officer at Delta Think, a consultancy focused on supporting the scholarly communications community - publishers, societies, libraries, funders, technology companies, and service providers - in anticipating, creating, and managing change. As CCO, I am responsible for business development/new business opportunities and partnerships for Delta Think. On the consulting side, we actively engage with clients to support their needs related to business strategy and analysis, customer insight, and market research and assessment.

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Rick Anderson is University Librarian of Brigham Young University. He has worked previously as a bibliographer for YBP, Inc., as Head Acquisitions Librarian for the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, as Director of Resource Acquisition at the University of Nevada, Reno, and as Associate Dean for Collections & Scholarly Communication at the University of Utah. He serves on numerous editorial and advisory boards and is a regular contributor to the Scholarly Kitchen. He has served as president of NASIG and of the Society for Scholarly Publishing, and is a recipient of the HARRASSOWITZ Leadership in Library Acquisitions Award. Rick is the author of three books, including Scholarly Communication: What Everyone Needs to Know(Oxford University Press, 2018), which is currently being translated into both Japanese and Chinese.

Meg White's career in scholarly communication spans publishing, product development, commercial strategy, distribution, logistics, technology, and business operations. She has experience across the spectrum of health science markets with deep domain knowledge of education, academic research, and clinical information landscapes, and associated economic models and trends.

Meg has effectively managed all aspects of digital transformation through a strong combination of market insight, agile product development, technology optimization, and logistics and operations management, always with an eye to operational scale. Meg has held senior leadership positions in large and small organizations and has a proven ability to translate customer needs into actionable strategy across multiple formats, technologies, and operational infrastructure(s). She is a recognized thought leader and frequent contributor to industry-related conferences and publications on topics of digital transformation, eBooks, technology, curriculum, and continuing education and a longtime Director of the Charleston Conference.