In response to a statutory requirement, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director John Holdren submitted a report on agency open access policies to the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate.  If you haven’t been following the efforts during this Administration to extend the National Institutes of Health public access policy to other federal agencies, the report is a reasonable start on understanding what the Executive Branch has been doing.

Agencies with over $100 million in annual research funding were required to submit open access plans to OSTP by August 22, 2013.  Per the report, all agencies subject to this requirement have submitted draft plans (see page 3 for the full list).  To the possible disappointment of those championing the private sector CHORUS initiative, agencies are pursuing a variety of options to comply with the requirements.  Some are looking to work with the existing NIH tools, while others are seeking to use existing agency infrastructure.  Still others are seeking to develop new tools, either on their own or in partnership with other groups.

At this point the Office of Management and Budget, as well as the OSTP have reviewed the agency draft plans and submitted their comments.  While no deadline is mentioned in the report, Holdren anticipates several interagency meetings over the next few months to facilitate opportunities to share best practices and pursue opportunities for collaboration.

While there was opportunity for public comment on the process that produced the OSTP memorandum that required agencies to act, I hope there will be additional chances for the public to provide feedback on the draft policies and help agencies refine them once they are implemented.