Funding Agencies Requirements

As a result of the 2022 OSTP Nelson memo, federal funders were directed to update their public access policies. The information on the linked pages below will likely change throughout 2024 and 2025. This page will be updated when funders release final versions of their policies.

In 1999, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget amended OMB Circular A-110 to require research data produced with funding from Federal agencies be made publicly available through procedures established through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Federally funded research - access to publications and data

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a policy memorandum, “Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research,” on February 22, 2013. This memorandum was updated in the summer of 2022 in the memorandum "Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research", directing all federal agencies (not just those with more than $100 million in research expenditures) to create plans for providing immediate public access to the research they fund (publications and data).

Below is a summary table of public access plans for many of the federal funding agencies that fall under the OSTP memo.

The majority of federal funding agencies listed below, require a Data Management Plan (DMP). After consulting the requirements for your agency, you can get started writing a DMP.

Federally funded research requirements by Agency

AGENCY – PUBLIC ACCESS PLANS	ARTICLE SOLUTION	ARTICLE DEPOSIT DEADLINE	DATA SOLUTION	DATA DEPOSIT DEADLINE	DMP REQUIREMENT
American Heart Association	PubMed Central (PMC), see AHA Quick Guide. See HRA Open and HRA Open Guide for Awardees for instructions	Within 12 months of publication	Submit to one of the AHA approved subject repositories, see AHA Data Quick Guide	Within 12 months of end of funding period	Yes, see Sample Data Plans
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality	PubMed Central (PMC)	Upon acceptance	Commercial repository, TBD.	At time of article acceptance	Yes, see Digital Data section
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response	PubMed Central (PMC)	Upon acceptance	A recognized scientific data repository; submit metadata to ASPR for deposit in Data.gov registry	At time of article acceptance or 30 months, whichever is sooner	Yes
Centers for Disease Control	CDC Stacks and PubMed Central (PMC) using NIHMS submission system	Upon acceptance	Multiple repository options	Within 30 months of collection	Yes
Dept. of Defense	Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC), see Dept. of Defense Quick Guide	Upon acceptance	DTIC centralized data catalog and Dept. of Defense Data Quick Guide	At time of article publication	Yes
Dept. of Energy	Public Access Gateway for Energy and Science (PAGES), see Dept. of Energy Quick Guide	Upon acceptance	Publicly accessible repositories that meet requirements, see Dept. of Energy Data Quick Guide	At time of article publication	Yes, see DMP Suggested Elements
Dept. of Transportation	DOT National Transportation Library (NTL)	Upon Acceptance	Publicly accessible repositories that meet requirements	At time of article publication	Yes, see Section 7.4.2
Institute of Education Sciences	ERIC for post-publication, see Dept. of Education Quick Guide	Upon Acceptance	Data must be available for at least 10 years - researcher repository choice, see Dept. of Education Data Quick Guide	At time of article publication	Yes, see DMP Requirement and Responsibility
Food & Drug Administration	PubMed Central (PMC) using NIHMS submission system	Upon Acceptance	Disciplinary data repository	At time of article publication	Yes, see DMP Requirements. See Section IV.B.i (page 9)
National Aeronautics & Space Administration	NASA-branded PMC portal, PubSpace, see NASA Quick Guide	Upon Acceptance	PubSpace, PMC portal alongside article, NASA archives, or disciplinary data repository, see NASA Data Quick Guide	At time of article publication or within reasonable time after publication	Yes, see Data Management Plans. See Part A, 4.0
National Institutes of Health	PubMed Central (PMC), see NIH Quick Guide	Upon Acceptance	NIH Data Sharing Repositories; or any widely used or institutional repository.	At time of article publication	Yes, see NIH Data management & Sharing Plan guidance
National Institute of Standards & Technology	PubMed Central (PMC)	Upon Acceptance	Enterprise Data Inventory (EDI) dataset registry and Common Access Platform through Data.gov	At time of article publication	Yes, see Guidance for Review of DMPs
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration	NOAA Institutional Repository using CDC Stacks	Upon Acceptance	Long term - NOAA National Data Centers; multiple short term solutions.	At time of article publication or within 2 years of data collection	Yes, see Data Management Planning
National Science Foundation	NSF-PAR (Public Access Repository), see NSF Quick Guide	Upon Acceptance	An appropriate disciplinary repository of your choosing, public access through Data.gov , see NSF Data Quick Guide	"Within a reasonable timeframe"	Yes, see Plans for data management and sharing, also refer to specific NSF Directorates
Smithsonian Institution	Smithsonian Research Online (SRO) or CHORUS	Within 12 months of publication or negotiated period	SRO or approved community-supported or discipline-specific repository, or via CHORUS	At time of article publication or negotiated period	Yes, see Data Management Policy
U.S. Agency for International Development	Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC)	N/A	Development Data Library (DDL) or a publicly accessible research database, with links to Data.gov	In accordance with the provisions of the award; upon completion of their data analysis	See Public Access Plan, section 4.1.3
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture U.S. Dept of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture	USDA public access archive system (PubAg)	Upon article acceptance	Ag Data Commons Recommend using platforms etc. such as Ag Data Commons		Yes, part of Phase 2 (not implemented yet) Requirements Yes, see Data Management Plan guidance
U.S. Geological Survey	Information Product Data System (IPDS) & USGS Publications Warehouse, see USGS Quick Guide	At time of publication	ScienceBase.gov , see USGS Data Quick Guide	Following data verification and approval	Yes, see DMP Requirements (updated April 2023). See section 9.2 (page 13)
Veteran’s Administration	PubMed Central (PMC)	Upon article acceptance	Partnering with HHS, NIH, FDA, and DoD; public access solution to data TBD	--	Yes, DMP requirements. See Requirement for Data Management Plans (page 5)