[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 96 (Thursday, May 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31827-31829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-10643]


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NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

[Notice: 23-051]


Request for Information: NASA Public Access Plan for Increasing 
Access to the Results of NASA-Supported Research

AGENCY: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Request for information (RFI); notice of comment period.

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SUMMARY: NASA seeks public input on the ``NASA's Public Access Plan, 
Increasing Access to the Results of Scientific Research'' (NASA Public 
Access Plan). NASA has a decades-long history of providing public 
access to scholarly publications and data resulting from the research 
it supports, including through the 2014 Open Access Plan. In 2022, the 
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a 
memorandum on ``Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to 
Federally Funded Research'' that establishes new guidance for improving 
public access to scholarly publications and data resulting from 
Federally supported research. The NASA Public Access Plan outlines the 
proposed approach NASA will take to implement the new guidance, 
consistent with its longstanding commitment to public access.

DATES: For the request for information published on May 18, 2023, 
submit comments by August 17, 2023. Early comments are encouraged. 
Comments received after this date will be considered to the extent 
practicable.

ADDRESSES: All responses to this RFI must be submitted in an electronic 
format only via the email mailbox: [email protected].
     Mail: Comments submitted in a manner other than the one 
listed above, including emails or letters sent to NASA, OCS, SMD, or 
other NASA officials may not be accepted.
     Hand Delivery: Please note that NASA cannot accept any 
comments that are hand delivered or couriered. In addition, NASA cannot 
accept comments contained on any form of digital media storage devices, 
such as CDs/DVDs and USB drives.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Issues regarding clarifications or 
questions on this RFI can be sent to Dr. Louis Barbier, NASA Associate 
Chief Scientist, at [email protected], 202-358-1421.
    Issued by Office of The Chief Scientist, National Aeronautics and 
Space Administration

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    NASA has a long-standing culture of promoting the full and open 
sharing of data with the research communities, private industry, 
academia, and the general public. NASA space and airborne missions 
routinely process, archive, and distribute their data to researchers 
around the globe. Data from all NASA spacecraft are currently available 
through the individual mission and theme archives. Through NASA's 2014 
Open Access Plan NASA responded to OSTP's call for open access to peer-
reviewed scientific publications albeit with an embargo period not to 
exceed 12 months. That plan also called on NASA researchers to

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submit a Data Management Plan along with their proposals to ensure 
long-term stewardship of federally funded data.
    Increasing access to publications and data resulting from federally 
funded research offers many benefits to the scientific community and 
the public. Access can accelerate research, generate higher quality 
scientific results, encourage greater scientific integrity, and enable 
future inquiry, discovery, and translation for scientific research. 
Importantly, these efforts also uphold NASA's commitment to responsible 
stewardship of the Nation's investment in biomedical research by 
improving transparency and accessibility of taxpayer-funded research.
    NASA efforts align with public access directives, policies, and 
programs across the U.S. Government. Since 2013, federal public access 
policy has been guided by the OSTP Memorandum on Increasing Access to 
the Results of Federally Funded Research, which directed all federal 
departments and agencies with more than $100 million in annual research 
and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased 
public access to scholarly publications and digital data resulting from 
federally funded research. On August 25, 2022, OSTP released updated 
policy guidance (2022 OSTP Memorandum) that focuses on accelerated 
access to scholarly publications (most notably, by removing the 
currently allowable 12-month embargo period for free access), increased 
access to scientific data, and enhanced tracking of research products 
through persistent identifiers (PIDs) and metadata.
    The NASA Public Access Plan provides a roadmap for how NASA 
proposes to accelerate access to scholarly publications, scientific 
data, and software and will help ensure these research products are 
findable and equitably accessible to support further scientific 
discovery. NASA plans to modify implementation of the NASA Public 
Access Policy to accommodate novel elements of the 2022 OSTP Memorandum 
related to scholarly publications.
    NASA looks forward to working across the U.S. Government to support 
our shared commitment to responsible stewardship of the Nation's 
investment in biomedical research by improving transparency and 
accessibility of taxpayer-funded research.

Request for Information

NASA's Public Access Plan
    (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/nasa_ocs_public_access_plan_may_2023.pdf) is now being released for a 
period of public comment. The plan adheres to NASA's principles 
surrounding open access, in part:
     Open Access to federally-funded scientific research has 
the potential to increase the pace of scientific discovery, advance 
technology development, speed up exploration, and promote more 
efficient and effective use of government funding and resources.
     Sharing and preserving publications, data, and software 
are central to protecting the integrity of science by facilitating 
validation of results, as well as advancing science by broadening the 
value of research data to disciplines other than the originating one 
and to society at large.

II. Discussion of Questions

    The NASA Public Access plan also goes beyond the OSTP memorandum 
and calls for open access to software as well, in keeping with the 
Transition to Open Science (TOPS) which NASA is proudly pioneering for 
the federal government.
    NASA seeks information regarding the NASA Public Access Plan from 
all interested individuals and communities, including, but not limited 
to, authors, investigators, research institutions, libraries, scholarly 
publishers, scientific societies, healthcare providers, patients, 
students, educators, research participants, and other members of the 
public. While comments are welcome on all elements of the NASA Public 
Access Plan, input would be most welcome on the particular issues 
identified below.
    1. How to best ensure equity in publication opportunities for NASA-
supported investigators. The NASA Public Access Plan aims to maintain 
the existing broad discretion for researchers and authors to choose how 
and where to publish their results. Consistent with current practice, 
the NASA Public Access Plan allows the submission of final published 
articles to Clearinghouse for the Open Research of the United States 
(CHORUS), the NASA Scientific, Technical and Research Information 
discoVEry System (STRIVES), Astrophysics Data System (ADS), or NASA's 
PubSpace to minimize the compliance burden on NASA-supported 
researchers. These submission routes are allowed regardless of whether 
or not the journal uses an open access model, a subscription model of 
publishing, or other publication model. This flexibility aims to 
protect against concerns that have been raised about certain publishing 
models potentially disadvantaging early career researchers and 
researchers from limited-resourced institutions or under-represented 
groups. NASA policy allows supported researchers to charge reasonable 
publishing costs against their awards. NASA seeks information on 
additional steps it might consider taking to ensure that proposed 
changes to implementation of the Public Access Policy do not create new 
inequities in publishing opportunities or reinforce existing ones.
    2. Steps for improving equity in access and accessibility of 
publications. Removal of the currently allowable 12-month embargo 
period for NASA-supported publications will improve access to these 
research products for all. The NASA Public Access Plan also supports 
making articles available in human and machine-readable forms to 
support automated text processing. NASA will also seek ways to improve 
the accessibility of publications by diverse communities of users.
    3. Methods for monitoring evolving costs and impacts on affected 
communities. NASA proposes to actively monitor trends in publication 
fees and policies to ensure that they remain reasonable and equitable. 
NASA seeks information on effective approaches for monitoring trends in 
publication fees and equity in publication opportunities.
    4. Input on considerations to increase findability and transparency 
of research. NASA seeks suggestions on any specific issues that should 
be considered in efforts to improve use of PIDs (such as ORCID) and 
metadata, including information about experiences institutions and 
researchers have had with adoption of different identifiers.
    5. Suggestions on sharing and archiving of software. Sites like 
GitHub and Zenodo offer ways to distribute and manage software. NASA is 
seeking suggestions on improving the archiving, sharing, and 
maintenance of software for reuse.

III. Written Responses

    Responses to this RFI are voluntary and may be submitted 
anonymously. You may also voluntarily include your name and contact 
information with your response. Other than your name and contact 
information, please do not include in the response any personally 
identifiable information or any information that you do not wish to 
make public. Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive 
information should not be included in your response.
    Written responses should be in a PDF file attached to the email 
submission, not to exceed 4 pages, excluding a cover

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page and any references. You may respond to some or all questions 
listed in the RFI. There is no limit on the number of responses from an 
individual or an institution or its organizational units.

IV. Review of Public Feedback

    After the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) has finished 
reviewing the responses, the responses may be posted to the NASA OCS 
website without redaction. All submissions will be acknowledged and 
NASA will publicize a summary of the submissions within 90 days.

Cheryl Parker,
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2023-10643 Filed 5-17-23; 8:45 am]
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