Notice2023-10643
Request for Information: NASA Public Access Plan for Increasing Access to the Results of NASA-Supported Research
Primary source
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Published
May 18, 2023
Issuing agencies
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Abstract
NASA seeks public input on the "NASA's Public Access Plan, Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research" (NASA Public Access Plan). NASA has a decades-long history of providing public access to scholarly publications and data resulting from the research it supports, including through the 2014 Open Access Plan. In 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memorandum on "Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research" that establishes new guidance for improving public access to scholarly publications and data resulting from Federally supported research. The NASA Public Access Plan outlines the proposed approach NASA will take to implement the new guidance, consistent with its longstanding commitment to public access.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 96 (Thursday, May 18, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 96 (Thursday, May 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31827-31829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10643]
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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
[Notice: 23-051]
Request for Information: NASA Public Access Plan for Increasing
Access to the Results of NASA-Supported Research
AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
ACTION: Request for information (RFI); notice of comment period.
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SUMMARY: NASA seeks public input on the ``NASA's Public Access Plan,
Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research'' (NASA Public
Access Plan). NASA has a decades-long history of providing public
access to scholarly publications and data resulting from the research
it supports, including through the 2014 Open Access Plan. In 2022, the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a
memorandum on ``Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to
Federally Funded Research'' that establishes new guidance for improving
public access to scholarly publications and data resulting from
Federally supported research. The NASA Public Access Plan outlines the
proposed approach NASA will take to implement the new guidance,
consistent with its longstanding commitment to public access.
DATES: For the request for information published on May 18, 2023,
submit comments by August 17, 2023. Early comments are encouraged.
Comments received after this date will be considered to the extent
practicable.
ADDRESSES: All responses to this RFI must be submitted in an electronic
format only via the email mailbox: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#87eff6aaf7f2e5ebeee4e6e4e4e2f4f4c7eae6eeeba9e9e6f4e6a9e0e8f1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="98f0e9b5e8edfaf4f1fbf9fbfbfdebebd8f5f9f1f4b6f6f9ebf9b6fff7ee">[email protected]</span></a>.
<bullet> Mail: Comments submitted in a manner other than the one
listed above, including emails or letters sent to NASA, OCS, SMD, or
other NASA officials may not be accepted.
<bullet> Hand Delivery: Please note that NASA cannot accept any
comments that are hand delivered or couriered. In addition, NASA cannot
accept comments contained on any form of digital media storage devices,
such as CDs/DVDs and USB drives.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Issues regarding clarifications or
questions on this RFI can be sent to Dr. Louis Barbier, NASA Associate
Chief Scientist, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cf83a0baa6bce182e18daebdada6aabd8fa1aebcaee1a8a0b9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="773b18021e04593a59351605151e1205371916041659101801">[email protected]</span></a>, 202-358-1421.
Issued by Office of The Chief Scientist, National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
NASA has a long-standing culture of promoting the full and open
sharing of data with the research communities, private industry,
academia, and the general public. NASA space and airborne missions
routinely process, archive, and distribute their data to researchers
around the globe. Data from all NASA spacecraft are currently available
through the individual mission and theme archives. Through NASA's 2014
Open Access Plan NASA responded to OSTP's call for open access to peer-
reviewed scientific publications albeit with an embargo period not to
exceed 12 months. That plan also called on NASA researchers to
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submit a Data Management Plan along with their proposals to ensure
long-term stewardship of federally funded data.
Increasing access to publications and data resulting from federally
funded research offers many benefits to the scientific community and
the public. Access can accelerate research, generate higher quality
scientific results, encourage greater scientific integrity, and enable
future inquiry, discovery, and translation for scientific research.
Importantly, these efforts also uphold NASA's commitment to responsible
stewardship of the Nation's investment in biomedical research by
improving transparency and accessibility of taxpayer-funded research.
NASA efforts align with public access directives, policies, and
programs across the U.S. Government. Since 2013, federal public access
policy has been guided by the OSTP Memorandum on Increasing Access to
the Results of Federally Funded Research, which directed all federal
departments and agencies with more than $100 million in annual research
and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased
public access to scholarly publications and digital data resulting from
federally funded research. On August 25, 2022, OSTP released updated
policy guidance (2022 OSTP Memorandum) that focuses on accelerated
access to scholarly publications (most notably, by removing the
currently allowable 12-month embargo period for free access), increased
access to scientific data, and enhanced tracking of research products
through persistent identifiers (PIDs) and metadata.
The NASA Public Access Plan provides a roadmap for how NASA
proposes to accelerate access to scholarly publications, scientific
data, and software and will help ensure these research products are
findable and equitably accessible to support further scientific
discovery. NASA plans to modify implementation of the NASA Public
Access Policy to accommodate novel elements of the 2022 OSTP Memorandum
related to scholarly publications.
NASA looks forward to working across the U.S. Government to support
our shared commitment to responsible stewardship of the Nation's
investment in biomedical research by improving transparency and
accessibility of taxpayer-funded research.
Request for Information
NASA's Public Access Plan
(<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_ocs_public_access_plan_may_2023.pdf">https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_ocs_public_access_plan_may_2023.pdf</a>) is now being released for a
period of public comment. The plan adheres to NASA's principles
surrounding open access, in part:
<bullet> Open Access to federally-funded scientific research has
the potential to increase the pace of scientific discovery, advance
technology development, speed up exploration, and promote more
efficient and effective use of government funding and resources.
<bullet> Sharing and preserving publications, data, and software
are central to protecting the integrity of science by facilitating
validation of results, as well as advancing science by broadening the
value of research data to disciplines other than the originating one
and to society at large.
II. Discussion of Questions
The NASA Public Access plan also goes beyond the OSTP memorandum
and calls for open access to software as well, in keeping with the
Transition to Open Science (TOPS) which NASA is proudly pioneering for
the federal government.
NASA seeks information regarding the NASA Public Access Plan from
all interested individuals and communities, including, but not limited
to, authors, investigators, research institutions, libraries, scholarly
publishers, scientific societies, healthcare providers, patients,
students, educators, research participants, and other members of the
public. While comments are welcome on all elements of the NASA Public
Access Plan, input would be most welcome on the particular issues
identified below.
1. How to best ensure equity in publication opportunities for NASA-
supported investigators. The NASA Public Access Plan aims to maintain
the existing broad discretion for researchers and authors to choose how
and where to publish their results. Consistent with current practice,
the NASA Public Access Plan allows the submission of final published
articles to Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the United States
(CHORUS), the NASA Scientific, Technical and Research Information
discoVEry System (STRIVES), Astrophysics Data System (ADS), or NASA's
PubSpace to minimize the compliance burden on NASA-supported
researchers. These submission routes are allowed regardless of whether
or not the journal uses an open access model, a subscription model of
publishing, or other publication model. This flexibility aims to
protect against concerns that have been raised about certain publishing
models potentially disadvantaging early career researchers and
researchers from limited-resourced institutions or under-represented
groups. NASA policy allows supported researchers to charge reasonable
publishing costs against their awards. NASA seeks information on
additional steps it might consider taking to ensure that proposed
changes to implementation of the Public Access Policy do not create new
inequities in publishing opportunities or reinforce existing ones.
2. Steps for improving equity in access and accessibility of
publications. Removal of the currently allowable 12-month embargo
period for NASA-supported publications will improve access to these
research products for all. The NASA Public Access Plan also supports
making articles available in human and machine-readable forms to
support automated text processing. NASA will also seek ways to improve
the accessibility of publications by diverse communities of users.
3. Methods for monitoring evolving costs and impacts on affected
communities. NASA proposes to actively monitor trends in publication
fees and policies to ensure that they remain reasonable and equitable.
NASA seeks information on effective approaches for monitoring trends in
publication fees and equity in publication opportunities.
4. Input on considerations to increase findability and transparency
of research. NASA seeks suggestions on any specific issues that should
be considered in efforts to improve use of PIDs (such as ORCID) and
metadata, including information about experiences institutions and
researchers have had with adoption of different identifiers.
5. Suggestions on sharing and archiving of software. Sites like
GitHub and Zenodo offer ways to distribute and manage software. NASA is
seeking suggestions on improving the archiving, sharing, and
maintenance of software for reuse.
III. Written Responses
Responses to this RFI are voluntary and may be submitted
anonymously. You may also voluntarily include your name and contact
information with your response. Other than your name and contact
information, please do not include in the response any personally
identifiable information or any information that you do not wish to
make public. Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive
information should not be included in your response.
Written responses should be in a PDF file attached to the email
submission, not to exceed 4 pages, excluding a cover
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page and any references. You may respond to some or all questions
listed in the RFI. There is no limit on the number of responses from an
individual or an institution or its organizational units.
IV. Review of Public Feedback
After the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) has finished
reviewing the responses, the responses may be posted to the NASA OCS
website without redaction. All submissions will be acknowledged and
NASA will publicize a summary of the submissions within 90 days.
Cheryl Parker,
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-10643 Filed 5-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7510-13-P
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