Open Access Publishing : Policies & Perspectives

 
Research funders and organizations are increasingly adopting mandates that encourage or require researchers to make their research findings freely and publicly accessible. A "public" or "open" access mandate or policy usually refers to a policy of a research funding agency, foundation or institution. 

The NIH Public Access Policy was established by the National Institutes of Health in 2008 and was updated in 2024. The current policy applies to NIH-funded research manuscripts that are accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. These manuscripts must be deposited in National Library of Medicine's digital archive, PubMed Central (PMC), on the date of publication, without an embargo period.

Please see the following sites for more information, or contact the Research Data and Open Scholarship (RDOS) group for assistance.

Federal Funders in the United States

With the 2013 OSTP Public Access mandate, research funded by many government agencies must now be made publicly available, with some private funders adopting similar policies. Publishing in an open access journal often does not  satisfy compliance with these policies, nor is it always necessary for compliance. Rather, these policies require the deposit of research publications and data in particular open repositories, regardless of the type of journal in which they have been published.

Selected Cornell Funder Publication Policies

• Department of Energy effective Oct 1, 2024
• Environmental Protection Agency effective Jan 2, 2025
• NASA Science Mission Directorate effective Dec 2, 2022 (as appropriate)
• NSF's updated policy is expected to be released with the next PAPPG, as described in their Public Access Plan
  • Current NSF policy can be found in the 24-1 PAPPF in the Copyright and Publication/Dissemination of Grant Materials sections
  • Additional context and information can be found in
    • Public Access Plan (March 2015)
    • Public Access Plan 2.0 
    • FAQs on NSF's public access policies

SPARC also maintains a tool for tracking and comparing federal agency publication policies.

cOAlition S funders

cOAlition S, an alliance of research funding and performing institutions, consists primarily (but not exclusively) of European organizations. US members include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Their plan S requires member-funded research to be published in open access journals or on open access platforms, with no embargo. The Journal Checker Tool is useful for determining whether a publication option meets plan S requirements.

Open access policies, statements and resolutions from a number of organizations and institutions, including Cornell University.