White House directive calls for open access to research publications

WASHINGTON, D.C.—President Barack Obama on Dec. 8 issued adirective specifying actions that should be taken to make government agenciesbetter able to engage with the public, including plans to make data andinformation from federally funded research available for public access. The"Open Government Directive" released by the Office of Management and Budget(OMB) describes the principles of "transparency, participation andcollaboration" as the "cornerstone of an open government." As a model, theObama administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy proposed theopen access model adopted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2008,which requires that all investigators funded by NIH submit an electronicversion of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance forpublication no later than 12 months after the official date of publication. Theadministration posted a notice in the Federal Register seeking comments frominterested parties on what forms the federal data policy should take.