Last two U.S. agencies complete open access plans

EPA and the Department of Homeland Security finalized plans last week to make research publications and data more freely available. They mark the final two of the 22 U.S. research agencies and departments that were required to create open access plans under a February 2013 memo from John Holdren, outgoing director of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. Under the plans, researchers must make final research papers free online within 12 months after their initial publication. Datasets created through federally funded research must also be made available to the public. The Department of Energy was the first to put forward a plan in August 2014. It created a public portal where researchers could either link to free publications in journals or, if those are not available, post their most finalized manuscript. “These efforts promise to further increase the return on the federal investment in research, accelerate scientific discovery, stimulate innovation, promote entrepreneurship, and enhance economic growth and job creation,” Jerry Sheehan, OSTP’s assistant director for scientific data & information, said in a blog post.