WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: White House Federally Funded Research Guidance Hailed as a Win for Innovation and Equity
Posted: August 29, 2022; Updated: August 31, 2022
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) landmark policy guidance for public access to federally funded research is winning enthusiastic praise from members of Congress, federal and international health and science leaders, private sector leaders, open science advocates, academic associations, scientific journals, and researchers. The new policy guidance will make the results of taxpayer-supported research immediately available to the American public, at no cost. Citing its emphasis on equity and ensuring that people from underserved backgrounds can access taxpayer-funded research and participate in accelerating solutions, praise for President Biden’s new policy includes hailing it as “transformational” and “an enormous leap forward” for democratizing knowledge and lowering barriers to scientific results.
President Biden has called for increased public access for years, citing his longtime priority to fight cancer, and specifically articulating in 2016: “The taxpayers fund $5 billion a year in cancer research every year, but once it’s published, nearly all of that taxpayer-funded research sits behind walls. Tell me how this is moving the process along more rapidly.”
The new guidance has benefited from extensive public engagement with stakeholders across the research publication ecosystem. These consultations have included large and small science and academic publishers, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, libraries and universities, scholarly societies, and members of the general public. Agencies will work with OSTP to fully implement public access policies by the end of 2025.
See below for what they’re saying:
U.S. Senator from Oregon Ron Wyden, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance: “The White House announcement today is an astronomical win for innovation and scientific progress. Unlocking federally funded research from expensive, exclusive journals will give far more scientists and researchers access to the latest discoveries and catalyze scientific development,” Wyden said. “Our country needs to harness every bit of research at our disposal to meet the challenges on everything from the Cancer Moonshot to addressing climate change. President Biden and Director Nelson deserve credit for making sure the public can reap the full benefits of taxpayer-funded research.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
U.S. Representative from California Zoe Lofgren, Chair, Committee on House Administration: “I applaud this move by @POTUS. When this info is shared openly with the public, it’s a powerful building block for future discoveries. This move can help accelerate breakthroughs, encourage collaborative research, & boost our nation’s competitive advantage.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania Mike Doyle, Chair, House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Communications and Technology: “Great news from the White House: the public will finally get free access to federally-funded research without a long wait behind a private paywall. Americans paid for it; we should have access to it!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization: “Important step by @POTUS and towards more rapid access to research data. @WHO has been … an advocate for open access to research data, so that everyone, everywhere can benefit from science.” [Tweet, 8/27/2022]
Lawrence Tabak, Performing the Duties of the NIH Director:
“Over the coming months, NIH will work expeditiously to develop and share its plans for implementing the OSTP policy guidance … We are enthusiastic to move forward on these important efforts to make research results more accessible and look forward to working together to strengthen our shared responsibility in making federally funded research results accessible to the public.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Patti Brennan, Director, National Library of Medicine:
“NLM stands ready to support NIH’s implementation of updated policy guidance issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) through NLM’s PubMed Central (PMC) and other relevant data repositories … NLM supports public accountability and open science, and will work with NIH and other federal agency partners to support their revised public access plans.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Michael Chiang, Director, National Eye Institute:
“This is a major step by the White House (@WHOSTP) in democratizing knowledge dissemination and data access. At @NatEyeInstitute , we are excited about helping to build a future based on data sharing to promote better science.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
U.S. Department of Agriculture: “We applaud @WHOSTP’s release of new guidance on public research access. Rapid public access to federally-funded research & data can drive data-driven decisions & innovation that are critical in our fast-changing world.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
UK Research and Innovation: “We welcome this new policy guidance from @WHOSTP to make federally-funded research outputs immediately accessible which will improve opportunities for collaboration & innovation. #OpenAccess” [Tweet, 8/26/2022]
Heather Joseph, Executive Director, Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition: “This is an enormous leap forward. For the first time, everyone will have free and immediate access to the results of all federally funded research to speed solutions for global challenges—from cancer to climate change. We are deeply grateful to the Biden-Harris administration for their steadfast leadership on this issue. This crucial policy guidance lays the foundation for a more open and equitable system of research communication in the U.S. and globally.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Johan Rooryck, Executive Director, cOAlition S: “This new US policy is a game changer for scholarly publishing. In addition to its emphasis on immediate open access, we welcome the focus on reducing inequities in publishing, especially among individuals from underserved backgrounds and those who are early in their careers. Initiatives such as Rights Retention – supported by both funder and institutional policies – can provide a means for effectively delivering open access. Such a strong statement, from a country that is leading in many research areas, will greatly advance efforts for global open access.” [Statement, 8/26/2022]
Greg Tananbaum, Director, Open Research Funders Group:
“We thank the White House for its commitment to open science and its decisive action to remove restrictions on access to, and reuse of, government funded research results. The results of this revised guidance will have tangible benefits for the American public. We commend the OSTP for its leadership, which will accelerate progress toward curing disease and tackling climate change, facilitate more informed decision making between patients and doctors, and help to create a more durable bond between science and society.” [Letter, 8/25/2022]
Brian Nosek, Director, Center for Open Science:
“It is a transformational document. This is going to change how it is that science is communicated, and what the public and particularly other researchers have access to in the work that was done.” [STAT News, 8/25/2022]
Association of Research Libraries:
“This update is a historic moment for scientific communications … By signaling the importance of agency policies that work equitably for people from underserved backgrounds and for early-career researchers, as well as ensuring outputs are accessible to people with disabilities, this new policy guidance bolsters the administration’s focus on advancing equity, and on increasing public participation in the federal scientific enterprise.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Association of American Universities:
“The announcement today by OSTP represents an important step forward in further advancing public access.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Sudip Parikh, Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science:
“AAAS, the nonprofit publisher of the Science family of journals, supports the objectives of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and has a long history of advocating for equitable access to scientific research and data while ensuring a more inclusive publishing ecosystem for scientists.” [Statement, 8/25/2022]
Michael Eisen, Editor-in-Chief, eLife: “The actions you took yesterday are the most consequential steps taken by any administration, branch of government or other public or private entity to ensure that Americans realize the full benefits of our investment in scientific and medical research.” [Letter, 8/26/2022]
Alison Mudditt, Chief Executive Officer, Public Library of Science:
“An amazing day for #OAintheUSA. Many thanks to @WHOSTP & @WhiteHouse for recognizing the importance of OA to research both to accelerate knowledge & to promote equity. And an enormous debt of gratitude to the many people who’ve worked so hard for this.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Anne Wojcicki, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, 23andMe:
“Nice job OSTP to finally make federally funded research free for people to read. About time!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Cable Green, Director, Open Knowledge at Creative Commons:
“The public deserves to have uninhibited, equitable and immediate access to use and re-use the research, data, educational resources, software and other content it funds. Our collective ability to create and share digital public goods to create a better world requires it. This new OSTP guidance realizes essential elements of that vision.” [Blog post, 8/26/2022]
Dave A. Chokshi, former New York City Health Commissioner:
“Publicly-funded research should be accessible to the public. We have seen just how important this is during #COVID19. Really appreciate this #OpenAccess policy breakthrough from the @WhiteHouse.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Leslie Vosshall, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute:
“This is likely to change how science is communicated forever. It is important. It is transformative. We have waited for this day for decades.” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Elliott D. Hammer, Professor of Psychology, Xavier University of Louisiana:
“This is an incredibly good thing to have happened … Those of us at less wealthy schools are grateful for the access!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
James Temple, Senior Editor, MIT Technology Review:
“This is fantastic news speaking as a journalist — and as a human being. Everyone should be able to access federally-funded science, and now it seems they can” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Ashley Farley, Program Officer for Knowledge & Research Services, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation:
“We thank the White House for its commitment to increasing equitable access to federally funded research publications and data. We are confident this will foster innovation, strengthen scientific integrity, and bring more diverse voices into the research conversation. The Gates foundation stands ready to assist the Administration as you move to operationalize this guidance.” [Letter, 8/29/2022]
University of California Libraries:
“A year is a long time in the world of scientific research. The omicron variant of COVID-19 was identified in November 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope launched in December 2021 and sent back its first images just last month. Access to the latest science is the best way to solve today’s problems and accelerate future discoveries — and that is why the White House guidance issued this week to make federally funded research freely and immediately available is so important.” [Statement, 8/30/2022]
Kamila Markram, CEO and co-founder of Frontiers, open access research publisher:
“Enormous progress has been made in our collective efforts to extend the benefits of publicly funded research to all of society, and this announcement ought to be a tipping point. The Covid emergency taught us that open science drives innovation and saves lives. As we face down global, existential threats, not least climate change, open science without paywalls will accelerate collaboration and improve our chances of success. We stand ready to work with partners in the vanguard of this transition.” [Statement, 8/29/2022]
Johan Rooryck, Executive Director of cOAlition-S:
“Such a strong statement, from a country that is leading in many research areas, will greatly advance efforts for global open access“, noted Johan Rooryck. cOAlition S looks forward to working with OSTP and other research organisations worldwide to further align our policies towards delivering full and immediate open access to research results.” [Statement, 8/26/2022]
Daniel Takash, Regulatory Policy Fellow, The Niskanen Center:
“This history shows that there is bipartisan support for liberalizing access to information. Even though OSTP’s change doesn’t directly implicate copyright law, it’s a policy that dulls its sharper edges and fulfills the constitutional purpose of copyright to ‘promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts. Though seemingly unrelated, this policy is a complement to the Biden Administration’s move on higher education costs. It’s not enough to subsidize goods and services that Americans need when they are purchased in a market that is highly constrained. Higher education is a perfect case study. Journal subscriptions aren’t the priciest line-item in a university budget by a long shot, but it’s a major chunk of academic libraries’ budgets. This is low-hanging fruit that needs to be picked, and it’s great that OSTP took enough interest in the issue to do something.” [Statement, 8/30/2022]
Prachee Avasthi, President ASAPBio and Co-Founder of Arcadia Science:
“I am transitioning from my academic role as a faculty member at Dartmouth, an institution that pays hefty subscription fees for broad journal access for its employees, to a role in the private sector where we have no access to many of the outputs of scholarly research. This experience has allowed me to see first-hand in small part what the rest of the world faces when attempting to build upon the current state of knowledge. When we don’t make research immediately open, we guarantee that we are not maximizing the scientific return on taxpayer investment. I applaud the efforts of the entire WHOSTP as well as the scientists, open science champions, and public servants everywhere that have fought for public access to scientific research to proclaim unambiguously that American science is for everyone.” [Letter, 8/26/2022]
Gary McDowell, CEO of Lightoller LLC:
“I am a small business owner and U.S. taxpayer who uses federally-funded research in my work. I constantly struggle to access the cutting-edge data and knowledge that I need – and that my tax dollars fund – due to the current barriers designed to keep me from them. However, I am writing not only to thank you for myself. In my work, I constantly see the barriers experienced by other groups, who will be so positively affected by this move: Patient advocates, trying to access the latest work to understand the current state of knowledge on their disease, are kept from understanding new directions and findings for an agonizing 12 months; Educators, who work to develop science literacy and a sense of identity with the science community in K-12 students, are frustrated by the gatekeeping to prevent this population from accessing current work. There are even thousands of students at U.S. institutions of higher education studying these subjects who cannot access research for their studies because their institutions cannot afford to pay the subscription costs levied by scientific societies and publishing companies.” [Letter, 8/30/2022]
Thad Potter and Sonia Kaufman, National Association of Graduate-Professional Students:
“As students, educators, and researchers, we need open access to articles reporting on research funded by US federal agencies. Until now, this research, paid for by taxpayers like us, was rarely accessible to the public due to the exorbitant cost of journal subscriptions. Yesterday’s action will ensure that students, educators, and researchers have access to the information they need to advance critical research to mitigate climate change, solve complex medical puzzles, which unlock the cure to diseases, send our rockets to the moon, and far more.” [Letter, 8/30/2022]
American Geophysical Union:
“AGU applauds the announcement by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to make federally funded research immediately open access at no cost. As a publisher of 23 journals for the global Earth and space science community, AGU is fully compliant with this new guidance, as well as the requirements for open access across Europe.” [Statement, 8/30/2022]
Dr. Alicia M. Salaz, Vice Provost and University Librarian, University of Oregon Libraries:
“At the University of Oregon, a public R1, AAU institution, our scholars rely on access to the latest published and publicly funded research and data in critical areas such as climate, human performance, and children’s health, to produce 2,000 publications and petabytes of research data every year. Our Library spends millions of dollars of Oregon state tax dollars and student tuition dollars every year to buy back access to the research that our own faculty produce with federal dollars, because until now, we have had little choice. With this action, OSTP advances a fairer, more equitable system of research that will benefit UO, our faculty, students, Oregon taxpayers, our country, and the world. Instead of buying back access to research that was already produced with public money, we will be able to invest more of our limited resources in ways that directly accelerate the research enterprise at the UO. The result will be faster progress toward solving behavioral health crises, mitigating climate and wildfire risks, and improving the human condition.” [Statement, 8/30/2022]
Seth Bannon, Venture Capitalist and Founder of fiftyyears:
“HUGE NEWS! The public have been paying for breakthrough research, which is then locked behind paywalls controlled by for-profit corporations. No more! Taxpayer-supported research will be immediately available to all at no cost. Great for science!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
Lenny Teytelman, CEO of protocols.io:
“As a company, we warmly welcome this change. Because we work in supporting researchers and helping them share their research in a more reproducible manner, it is exasperating to hit subscription paywalls when we are trying to access articles of the scientists we are working with. Moreover, for the methods shared on protocols.io, readers need to know which published papers they are used in, but it is impossible for us to provide that information for articles that are not open. On a personal level as a citizen, I am deeply grateful for your action, particularly on the heels of the Coronavirus pandemic. For many years, I’ve witnessed temporary immediate open access sharing during public health emergencies (Ebola in 2015, Zika in 2016, opioids in 2019, Covid in 2020). Each time, it made me wonder, `Are HIV, cancer, malaria not emergencies? What area of science does not need to move as fast as possible? Which patients have the luxury of time? Is climate research non-urgent?’” [Letter, 8/30/2022]
Steve Crawford, NASA Senior Program Executive for Scientific Data and Computing:
“Today, @WHOSTP released a policy about how data should become available at the time of their publication and this is a fantastic example of how NASA missions, researchers, publishers, and data repositories can make this happen to increase equity of access to our discoveries!” [Tweet, 8/25/2022]
###
