[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 18, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1630-S1631]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mr. Wyden):
S. 779. A bill to provide for Federal agencies to develop public
access policies relating to research conducted by employees of that
agency or from funds administered by that agency; to the Committee on
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 779
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Access to Science and
Technology Research Act of 2015''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the Federal Government funds basic and applied research
with the expectation that new ideas and discoveries that
result from the research, if shared and effectively
disseminated, will advance science and improve the lives and
welfare of people of the United States and around the world;
(2) the Internet makes it possible for this information to
be promptly available to every scientist, physician,
educator, and citizen at home, in school, or in a library;
and
(3) the United States has a substantial interest in
maximizing the impact and utility of the research it funds by
enabling a wide range of reuses of the peer-reviewed
literature that reports the results of such research,
including by enabling computational analysis by state-of-the-
art technologies.
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF FEDERAL AGENCY.
In this Act, the term ``Federal agency'' means an Executive
agency, as defined under section 105 of title 5, United
States Code.
SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY.
(a) Requirement To Develop Policy.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, each Federal agency with extramural
research expenditures of over $100,000,000 shall develop a
Federal research public access policy that is consistent with
and advances the purposes of the Federal agency.
(2) Common procedures.--To the extent practicable, Federal
agencies required to develop a policy under paragraph (1)
shall follow common procedures for the collection and
depositing of research papers.
(b) Content.--Each Federal research public access policy
shall provide for--
(1) submission to the Federal agency of an electronic
version of the author's final manuscript of original research
papers that have been accepted for publication in peer-
reviewed journals and that result from research supported, in
whole or in part, from funding by the Federal Government;
(2) the incorporation of all changes resulting from the
peer review publication process in the manuscript described
under paragraph (1);
(3) the replacement of the final manuscript with the final
published version if--
(A) the publisher consents to the replacement; and
(B) the goals of the Federal agency for functionality and
interoperability are retained;
(4) free online public access to such final peer-reviewed
manuscripts or published versions as soon as practicable, but
not later than 6 months after publication in peer-reviewed
journals;
(5) providing research papers as described in paragraph (4)
in formats and under terms that enable productive reuse,
including computational analysis by state-of-the-art
technologies;
(6) production of an online bibliography of all research
papers that are publicly accessible under the policy, with
each entry linking to the corresponding free online full
text; and
(7) long-term preservation of, and free public access to,
published research findings--
(A) in a stable digital repository maintained by the
Federal agency; or
(B) if consistent with the purposes of the Federal agency,
in any repository meeting conditions determined favorable by
the Federal agency, including free public access,
interoperability, and long-term preservation.
(c) Application of Policy.--Each Federal research public
access policy shall--
(1) apply to--
(A) researchers employed by the Federal agency whose works
remain in the public domain; and
(B) researchers funded by the Federal agency;
(2) provide that works described under paragraph (1)(A)
shall be--
(A) marked as being public domain material when published;
and
(B) made available at the same time such works are made
available under subsection (b)(4); and
(3) make effective use of any law or guidance relating to
the creation and reservation of a Government license that
provides for the reproduction, publication, release, or other
uses of a final manuscript for Federal purposes.
[[Page S1631]]
(d) Exclusions.--Each Federal research public access policy
shall not apply to--
(1) research progress reports presented at professional
meetings or conferences;
(2) laboratory notes, preliminary data analyses, notes of
the author, phone logs, or other information used to produce
final manuscripts;
(3) classified research, research resulting in works that
generate revenue or royalties for authors (such as books) or
patentable discoveries, to the extent necessary to protect a
copyright or patent; or
(4) authors who do not submit their work to a journal or
works that are rejected by journals.
(e) Patent or Copyright Law.--Nothing in this Act shall be
construed to affect any right under the provisions of title
17 or 35, United States Code.
(f) Report.--
(1) In general.--Not later than October 1 of each year, the
head of each Federal agency shall submit a report on the
Federal research public access policy of that Federal agency
to--
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate;
(B) the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the
House of Representatives;
(C) the Committee on Science and Technology of the House of
Representatives;
(D) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
of the Senate;
(E) the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
of the Senate; and
(F) any other committee of Congress of appropriate
jurisdiction.
(2) Content.--Each report under this subsection shall
include--
(A) a statement of the effectiveness of the Federal
research public access policy in providing the public with
free online access to papers on research funded by the
Federal agency;
(B) the results of a study by the Federal agency of the
terms of use applicable to the research papers described in
subsection (b)(4), including--
(i) a statement of whether the terms of use applicable to
such research papers are effective in enabling productive
reuse and computational analysis by state-of-the-art
technologies; and
(ii) an examination of whether such research papers should
include a royalty-free copyright license that is available to
the public and that permits the reuse of those research
papers, on the condition that attribution is given to the
author or authors of the research and any others designated
by the copyright owner;
(C) a list of papers published in peer-reviewed journals
that report on research funded by the Federal agency;
(D) a corresponding list of papers made available by the
Federal agency as a result of the Federal research public
access policy; and
(E) a summary of the periods of time between public
availability of each paper in a journal and in the online
repository of the Federal agency.
(3) Public availability.--A Federal agency shall make the
statement under paragraph (2)(A) and the lists of papers
under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (2) available to
the public by posting such statement and lists on the website
of the Federal agency.
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