Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2015
Requires each federal agency with extramural research expenditures of over $100 million to develop a federal research public access policy that is consistent with, and that advances, the purposes of the agency and that follows common procedures for the collection and depositing of research papers.
Makes each federal research public access policy applicable to: (1) researchers employed by the federal agency whose works remain in the public domain, and (2) researchers funded by the agency. Specifies exclusions.
Requires each federal agency to submit an annual report on its federal research public access policy to specified congressional committees.
[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1477 Introduced in House (IH)]
114th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1477
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 19, 2015
Mr. Michael F. Doyle of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. Yoder, and Ms.
Lofgren) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
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.
(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 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, Space, 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.--The 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.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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