Public Access/Open Access/Open Data

FSU Public Access Policy (7A-27)

Public Access (PA) literature is freely available online but subject to standard copyright and licensing restrictions. It is free to view and download, but readers have limited rights to reuse the material without permission.

Open Access (OA) literature is freely available online and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions giving readers broad rights to reuse the material without permission (Peter Suber, Open Access Overview).

Open Data (from the Open Data Handbook) is data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone - subject only, at most, to the requirement to attribute and share alike.

To be considered "open," the data must have the following three characteristics:

• Availability and Access: The data must be available as a whole and at no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably by downloading over the internet. The data must also be available in a convenient and modifiable form.
• Reuse and Redistribution: The data must be provided under terms that permit reuse and redistribution including the intermixing with other datasets.
• Universal Participation: Everyone must be able to use, reuse and redistribute - there should be no discrimination against fields of endeavor or against persons or groups. For example, ‘non-commercial’ restrictions that would prevent ‘commercial’ use, or restrictions of use for certain purposes (e.g. only in education), are not allowed.

FSU Resources

The Office of Digital Research and Scholarship (DRS) in University Libraries provides expertise and consultations on fulfilling funding requirements for public access to publications and data. DRS also offers data management planning services, assists researchers in the writing, editing and enactment of data management plans, and provides resources and information about data storage, funding agency requirements, data curation tools, data repositories, and the licensing or publishing of data sets.

Data Services

FSU Faculty Senate Open Access Resolution October 19, 2011 (excerpt from Faculty Senate Library Committee – Task Force on Scholarly Communications: Final Report)

FSU Faculty Senate Open Access Policy February 17, 2016

Protecting Research Data

Academic Publishing Guide

DigiNole Commons, FSU’s Research Repository

Public Access Mandates FAQs

Public Access Mandates Toolkit

Public Access Mandates Research Guide

FSU IT Policies and Guidelines

Federal Requirements

U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)

On August 25, 2022, OSTP published a memorandum entitled, “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research.” This memorandum provides policy guidance to federal agencies with research and development expenditures on updating their public access policies. In the memorandum, OSTP recommends that federal agencies, to the extent consistent with applicable law:

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; and,
3. Coordinate with OSTP to ensure equitable delivery of federally funded research results and data.

Read the complete memorandum at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/08-2022-OSTP-Public-Access-Memo.pdf.

Please address questions you may have about this topic to one of the following individuals:

• Mary Sechrist, Director of Research Compliance, m.sechrist@fsu.edu
• Devin Soper, Interim Associate Dean for Technology & Digital Scholarship and Director, Office of Digital Research & Scholarship, Florida State University Libraries, dsoper@fsu.edu

On August 25, 2022, OSTP published a memorandum entitled, “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research.” This memorandum provides policy guidance to federal agencies with research and development expenditures on updating their public access policies. In the memorandum, OSTP recommends that federal agencies, to the extent consistent with applicable law:

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; and,
3. Coordinate with OSTP to ensure equitable delivery of federally funded research results and data.

Read the complete memorandum at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/08-2022-OSTP-Public-Access-Memo.pdf.

On February 22, 2013, the OSTP issued a policy memorandum entitled “Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded Scientific Research.” The intent of the policy is to ensure that results of federally funded research are made available to the public. This includes peer-reviewed publications and data. A portion of the policy states:

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) hereby directs each Federal agency with over $100 million in annual conduct of research and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the Federal Government. This includes any results published in peer-reviewed scholarly publications that are based on research that directly arises from Federal funds, as defined in relevant OMB circulars.

Federal Agency Policy Matrix A table summarizing the Federal public access policies resulting from the US Office of Science and Technology Policy memorandum of February 2013.

Please address questions you may have about public access policies to one of the following individuals:

• Mary Sechrist, Director of Research Compliance, m.sechrist@fsu.edu
• Devin Soper, Interim Associate Dean for Technology & Digital Scholarship and Director, Office of Digital Research & Scholarship, Florida State University Libraries, dsoper@fsu.edu

Other Resources

Private Foundations Requiring Public Access

Association of Research Libraries, Open Scholarship

Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition