Federal Research: Additional Actions Needed to Improve Public Access to Research Results
GAO-20-81
Published: Nov 21, 2019. Publicly Released: Nov 21, 2019.
Fast Facts
Public access to the results of federally funded research can accelerate scientific breakthroughs. In 2013, certain federal agencies were directed to create plans for increasing access to publications and data they funded.
The 19 agencies we reviewed made progress, but some have not fully implemented their plans. For example:
7 agencies have not taken steps to make data findable, such as creating a single web access point
4 don’t require all researchers to submit a plan to provide access to data
11 don’t fully ensure that researchers comply with access requirements
We made 37 recommendations to 16 agencies to address these and other issues.
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Highlights
What GAO Found
The 19 agencies that GAO reviewed have made progress implementing their plans to increase public access to federally funded research results (publications and data), as called for in a 2013 Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandum. However, some agencies have not fully implemented some aspects of their plans, in particular those related to data access and mechanisms to ensure researchers comply with public access requirements.
Examples of Agencies' Progress Implementing Plans to Increase Public Access to Federally Funded Research Results
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Public access plan topic |
Extent of agency progress |
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Repositories |
All 19 agencies have identified federally owned or managed locations, known as repositories, for preservation and public access to publications. For data, agencies rely on an array of federal and nonfederal repositories. However, seven agencies have not taken steps, such as establishing a single web-based point of access, or have not fully implemented plans to help the public find data stored across repositories. Taking such steps could better support public access to federally funded data. |
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Data management plans (DMPs) |
Sixteen of 19 agencies reported requiring researchers to submit a DMP, which is supposed to describe how researchers will provide for long-term preservation and access to data they generate, or a justification for why that cannot be done. However, four agencies reported they have not established such requirements or have done so on a limited basis. Without requiring DMPs from agency-funded researchers, agencies may not be able to ensure that agency-funded data are being made publicly available. |
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Compliance |
Eleven agencies reported that they have not fully developed or implemented mechanisms to ensure researchers comply with applicable public access requirements. Officials cited several reasons for this, including resource constraints and difficulty with tracking and measuring compliance. Without fully implementing compliance mechanisms—as called for in the OSTP memorandum—agencies may not have assurance that all appropriate federally funded research results are being made publicly available. |
Source: GAO analysis of agency public access plan implementation efforts. | GAO-20-81
Agencies are coordinating with each other and with nonfederal stakeholders to implement public access plans, including through an interagency group led by OSTP and five other agencies. However, the group has not fully implemented selected leading practices identified by GAO that can enhance and sustain interagency collaboration, such as defining and articulating common outcomes. For example, according to OSTP staff, key outcomes have not yet been decided upon. Agency officials and stakeholders identified several challenges to implementing public access plans that interagency coordination might help them address, such as
Absence of common standards in several areas;
Measuring effectiveness of public access plan implementation; and
Balancing providing public access with safeguarding sensitive information.
By taking steps to fully implement relevant leading collaboration practices, the interagency group could help agencies better marshal their collective efforts to address common challenges to public access plan implementation.
Why GAO Did This Study
Research and development helps catalyze breakthroughs that improve the overall health and wellbeing of our society. Federal research and development expenditures averaged about $135 billion annually for fiscal years 2015 to 2017. According to OSTP, providing free public access to federally funded research results can improve both the impact and accountability of this important federal investment. In February 2013, OSTP directed federal agencies with more than $100 million in annual research and development expenditures to develop a plan to support increased public access to the results of federally funded research. GAO was asked to examine public access to federally funded research results. This report examines the extent of agencies' (1) progress implementing plans to increase public access to federally funded research results and (2) coordination on public access plan implementation. GAO administered a questionnaire to 19 federal agencies selected based on annual research and development expenditure amounts, among other criteria; reviewed agency documents; and interviewed officials from 11 agencies, OSTP, and 21 stakeholder organizations.
Recommendations
GAO is making 37 recommendations to 16 agencies to promote full and effective implementation of agency public access plans. For example, GAO recommends that OSTP and 5 agencies leading a public access interagency group take steps to fully implement selected leading collaboration practices. Of the 16 agencies, 15 agreed with GAO's recommendations while 1 (OSTP) disagreed. GAO continues to believe the recommendation to OSTP is warranted.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should take steps to ensure appropriate agency-funded research data are readily findable and accessible to the public. (Recommendation 1) | The Department of Defense partially concurred with this recommendation noting the challenge with balancing ensuring public access to research data with considerations of national security and personally identifiable information. As discussed in our report, our recommendation to DOD regarding findability and accessibility of agency-funded research data was qualified to pertain to appropriate agency-funded research data--recognizing that it might not be appropriate to make certain datasets publicly available because of national security or other concerns. In May 2021, DOD provided an update stating it had issued guidance on the responsible release of DOD data, which includes initiating a... study of existing pre-publication and security review policies as well as a partnership between the DOD Data Information Officer and others to formulate tools and techniques to better understand and counter the risks of data aggregation. DOD provided the guidance document in May 2023. As of June 2023, DOD provided an update in which it indicated that it is still working to develop methodologies to identify situations where aggregation of multiple sets of unclassified data could reveal national security vulnerabilities. In August 2024, DOD said they have been tracking this recommendation but do not yet have any new updates to share. We will provide an update when DOD provides additional information on steps taken to implement this recommendation.
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| Department of Education | The Secretary of Education should take steps to ensure appropriate agency-funded research data are readily findable and accessible to the public. (Recommendation 2) | The Department of Education concurred with this recommendation. According to its response to our report, the Department awarded a contract to support enhancements to its Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) to link scholarly research publications supported by the Department to their publicly accessible datasets. According to information Education provided, all grantees who submit through the ERIC submission system will be asked to submit a link to their data management plan, which includes a link to the underlying data. In addition, Education stated that, as part of an effort to minimize the burden for grantees and contractors, it negotiated agreements with the publishers of...
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| Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | The Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality should take steps to ensure appropriate agency-funded research data are readily findable and accessible to the public. (Recommendation 3) | The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality concurred with this recommendation. According to an AHRQ update as of March 2022, the Data Management Plan (DMP) Policy that AHRQ released on May 26, 2020 was the first step toward making AHRQ funded research data available for public access. AHRQ stated that all Notices of Funding Opportunity Announcements and Requests for Proposals had been updated to include the DMP requirements, and that the DMP has become part of the terms and conditions of award, as appropriate, for grants and contracts. AHRQ's DMP policy directs researchers to describe their plan for the long term preservation of data generated from AHRQ funding and lists specific...
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| Food and Drug Administration | The Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration should take steps to ensure appropriate agency-funded research data are readily findable and accessible to the public. (Recommendation 4) | The Food and Drug Administration concurred with this recommendation. According to a June 2021 update, FDA planned to use a system called FindIT to catalog approved publications and datasets to make them readily findable and accessible to the public. In a June 2023 update, FDA stated that OpenFDA will become the official repository of publicly accessible datasets, and FindIT will continue to be the "catalog" of what data exist with links to the data in OpenFDA. In May 2024, FDA stated that FindIT has been rebranded the FDA Expertise and Research Portal. FDA also stated that it is working to devise a framework for ensuring submission and storage of data sets consistent with the new...
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| Department of Homeland Security | The Secretary of Homeland Security should take steps to ensure appropriate agency-funded research data are readily findable and accessible to the public. (Recommendation 5) | The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concurred with this recommendation and noted that it was in the process of establishing a portal on its website to increase public access to agency-funded research. In January 2022, DHS provided information demonstrating that a DHS-funded publications repository, hosted by NIH, has been linked to the DHS-funded data repository and is publicly available. According to DHS, metadata collected during posting of articles to the publications repository, including unique digital object identifiers, will be used to connect articles to the data in the data repository. As of April 2022, DHS said it continued to work toward making some additional...
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should take steps to ensure appropriate agency-funded research data are readily findable and accessible to the public. (Recommendation 6) | The Department of Veterans Affairs concurred with this recommendation but indicated in its comments on the report that it had already taken steps to implement it. As discussed in the report, the department's efforts to ensure research data availability pertained to a portion of the agency's federally-funded research data. In a June 11, 2020 response, VA officials outlined planned actions and timelines to address this recommendation. Specifically, VA officials stated they would discuss with agency leadership and other potential VA partners how to make a broader set of VA-funded data findable and accessible. They also said they would continue submitting a funding request to the VHA IT...
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| National Science Foundation | The Director of the National Science Foundation should fully implement plans to ensure appropriate agency-funded research data are readily findable and accessible to the public. (Recommendation 7) | NSF concurred with this recommendation. According to its response to our report, NSF expanded its public access repository to include metadata records about data that support publications resulting from NSF-funded research. NSF's response stated that, by storing metadata records for supporting datasets alongside metadata records for publications, the public will be able to more easily find and access appropriate agency funded research data. In a subsequent update, NSF stated that, in December 2021, it implemented NSF-PAR version 2.0 which enables the system to accept dataset records and ensure agency-funded research data are readily findable and accessible to the public. NSF provided...
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should complete development of data management plan requirements for extramural researchers. (Recommendation 8) | The Department of Defense concurred with this recommendation stating data management plan (DMP) requirements would be in place by September 2023. In September 2022, DOD provided an update stating that it issued guidance in August 2021 requiring DMPs from grantees. DOD provided documentation of this guidance in May 2023, which states that a data management plan is required either as part of the application package prior to award or 30 days after award at the discretion of component program managers. DOD's September 2022 update also indicated that it had proposed DMP requirements for contractors into the DFARS. DOD provided a further update in June 2023 stating that the proposed changes to...
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| Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | The Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality should complete development of data management plan requirements. (Recommendation 9) | In May 2020 the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released its final Data Management Plan Policy which established the agency's data management plan requirements. The policy requires applicants for AHRQ new or competing grants and research contracts to include a DMP for managing, storing and disseminating the primary data, samples, physical collections and other supporting materials created or gathered in the course of research funded by AHRQ, or state why data management is not possible, as a component of their grant application or research contract proposal. This policy applies to AHRQ intramural researchers and extramural recipients of AHRQ grants and research contracts,...
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| Department of Homeland Security | The Secretary of Homeland Security should complete development of data management plan requirements. (Recommendation 10) | The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concurred with this recommendation, stating that it would develop a departmentwide management directive for research and development data as well as data management plan guidance and a template to document requirements. In a February 2021 update, DHS officials provided draft versions of its department-wide management directive for research data; a draft data management plan guidance document and template; and user guides relating to handling research data resulting from DHS funding. As of April 2022, DHS stated that it continues to work toward finalizing the directive. As of March 2023, DHS provided an estimated completion timeframe of late...
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| U.S. Agency for International Development | The U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator should complete development of data management plan requirements for extramural researchers. (Recommendation 11) | The U.S. Agency for International Development agreed with this recommendation. In a June 2020 response USAID stated it would take action to establish data management plan (DMP) requirements, and was in the process of making substantial revisions to its data policy, found in Chapter 579 of its Automated Directives System (ADS), USAID Development Data. In September 2020, USAID officials responded that they completed the development of DMP requirements for extramural researchers, as applicable, revising Chapter 579 of its Development Data Policy to contain these new requirements. USAID officials added that they also established working groups to create additional technical-level guidance...
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| Department of Agriculture | The Secretary of Agriculture should complete development of guidance and provide training to agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans. (Recommendation 12) | The U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed with the findings of our report. In October 2021, USDA provided a DMP review training plan that outlined a number of steps to develop training resources for DMP review and provide training to DMP reviewers. In February 2022, USDA provided additional information demonstrating that, as of September 2021, these training resources had been developed, and that USDA's Public Access Task Force had a plan in place to ensure that training is provided and training resources are available on an ongoing basis. As a result of these efforts, USDA will have better assurance that those responsible for reviewing the merits of researchers' DMPs are able to do so...
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| U.S. Agency for International Development | The U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator should complete development of and provide training for agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans. (Recommendation 13) | The U.S. Agency for International Development agreed with this recommendation. In a June 2020 response, USAID stated it would complete the development of, and provide training for, agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans (DMPs). USAID noted it had already delivered preliminary training on data management planning and DMPs to specialized agency staff, and that it was advancing a training program that would include specific training and guidance on the development and evaluation of DMPs. In a September 2020 response, USAID officials provided an update on their training efforts, noting some disruptions due to COVID-19, but stating...
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| Food and Drug Administration | The Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration should evaluate training needs for agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans and, if additional training is found to be warranted, develop and provide such training. (Recommendation 14) | The Food and Drug Administration concurred with this recommendation. In June 2021, FDA provided an update stating that the FDA Library and the Office of Scientific Integrity were collaborating on agency-wide training, including public access training that incorporated requirements for both publications and data management plans. In June 2022, FDA provided an additional update stating that data management has been incorporated into a Responsible Conduct of Research course that is required for all researchers every 4 years. According to FDA's update, the data management section of the course discusses effective approaches to responsible data management and the ethical issues associated...
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| Department of Homeland Security | The Secretary of Homeland Security should evaluate training needs for agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans and, if additional training is found to be warranted, develop and provide such training. (Recommendation 15) | The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concurred with this recommendation and indicated it would evaluate training needs for data management plan (DMP) reviews and develop plans to fulfill any additional training needs identified. In a February 2021 update, DHS officials stated that training has commenced. According to an April 2022 update, DHS is planning a number of steps to provide training resources concurrent with the finalization of its directive. As of March 2023, DHS provided an estimated completion timeframe of late October 2023 for the directive. We will update this recommendation when DHS provides additional information. In April 2024, DHS officials said they would be...
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should evaluate training needs for agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans and, if additional training is found to be warranted, develop and provide such training. (Recommendation 16) | The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) concurred with this recommendation and identified several planned steps to identify and meet training needs for those involved in reviewing researchers' data management plans (DMPs). In a June 11, 2020 update, VA officials noted that it had completed a review of training needs in November 2019, which involved assessing its scientific review personnel's understanding of VA policies and standards related to DMPs. Through this process VA shared information on review processes, standards, and guidance from other agencies, in particular the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute for Standards and Technology, with its scientific...
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| Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | The Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality should evaluate training needs for agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans and, if additional training is found to be warranted, develop and provide such training. (Recommendation 17) | The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality concurred with this recommendation stating that it would assess training needs for agency officials and others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans and would develop and provide additional training if warranted. In response, AHRQ developed and provided documentation of training materials for scientific review groups and program officials. AHRQ also developed a review guide and checklists to assist the identification and assessment of data management plans. AHRQ provided training using these materials over a series of dates from March 2021 through January 2022. As a result, AHRQ will have better assurance...
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should evaluate training needs for agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans and, if additional training is found to be warranted, develop and provide such training. (Recommendation 18) |
The Department of Defense concurred with this recommendation. In a September 2022 update, DOD indicated it had completed several actions to implement the recommendation. First, according to DOD's update, it developed an automated data management plan tool for researchers to use at the beginning of a project, which was completed in September 2020. Second, DOD stated it created evaluation criteria training, which it deployed in November 2021. Third, DOD completed providing training in June 2022. DOD provided documentation of these actions in May 2023 and, as a result, we are considering this recommendation implemented.
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| Department of Energy | The Secretary of Energy should evaluate training needs for agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans and, if additional training is found to be warranted, develop and provide such training. (Recommendation 19) | The Department of Energy concurred with this recommendation and stated it would assess and develop a plan to meet the training needs of internal DOE staff and external peer reviewers of data management plans (DMPs). In October 2021, DOE 's Office of Science issued guidance for reviewers of DMPs, which included information on required DMP elements that reviewers should assess when evaluating research proposals. The guidance went into effect on January 1, 2022. Additionally, DOE updated the Office of Science Portfolio Analysis and Management System (PAMS), a web-based system for managing proposals and their peer reviews, to inform reviewers about this guidance and verify they are familiar...
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| Environmental Protection Agency | The Environmental Protection Agency Administrator should evaluate training needs for agency officials or others involved in reviewing the merits of researchers' data management plans and, if additional training is found to be warranted, develop and provide such training. (Recommendation 20) | The Environmental Protection Agency agreed with this recommendation stating that it planned to evaluate training needs for agency officials who review researchers' data management plans. According to information EPA provided in December 2020 and May 2021, the agency had developed checklists and other materials for EPA managers and grant managers to use when reviewing data management plans. EPA further stated in December 2021 that these materials had been disseminated EPA-wide through the intranet site. In June 2022, EPA also provided information showing that training has been provided during its Public Access Forum's quarterly meetings, including, for example, one that occurred in March...
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| Department of Agriculture | The Secretary of Agriculture should develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 21) | The U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed with the findings of our report. In October 2021, USDA provided information on mechanisms the agency planned to institute to ensure that researchers comply with public access requirements. These mechanisms included, for example, establishing resources to communicate requirements to researchers; and developing a Departmental Regulation, guidance, and a compliance dashboard. In April 2022, USDA provided documentation of how ARS and NIFA ensure compliance with public access requirements, as well as USDA's departmentwide policies on public access to publications and data. These documents represent promising steps toward implementing the...
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 22) | The Department of Defense concurred with this recommendation. According to DOD officials, in May 2020, DOD research organizations performed a self-assessment of their compliance with public access requirements. The self-assessment found that DOD medical organizations were not sending articles stemming from DOD-funded research to DOD's Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) per DOD policy. While articles that were jointly funded with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were being sent to NIH's repository, PubMed Central, articles that were not jointly funded with NIH were not being made publicly available. To address this, DOD is taking steps to coordinate with NIH to ensure...
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| Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality | The Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality should develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements.(Recommendation 23) | In May 2020, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality stated they have taken multiple steps to ensure compliance with the agency's public access plan and associated requirements including: (1) updating all Funding Opportunity Announcements and Requests for Proposals issued after May 26, 2020 to include the agency's Data Management Plan policy requirements; (2) training scientific review groups to identify and assess the Data Management Plan to determine if the plan is adequate; and (3) training all AHRQ staff, including Program Officials, Scientific Review Officers, and grants management staff on the Data Management Plan policy. In addition, AHRQ stated they also ensure compliance...
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| Food and Drug Administration | The Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration should develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 24) | The Food and Drug Administration concurred with this recommendation. FDA planned to implement the recommendation by using its FDA Library FindIT system to ascertain and report researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements, according to a June 2021 update. In May 2024, FDA provided an update stating that its system for tracking publications and monitoring compliance with the public access plan (previously FindIT) has been rebranded the FDA Expertise and Research Portal. According to FDA's update, automatic publication harvesting using the Portal is being piloted with multiple FDA groups, and FDA's former Chief Scientist and now Principal Deputy Commissioner...
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| National Institutes of Health | The Director of the National Institutes of Health should fully develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 25) | In October 2020, NIH issued its Data Management and Sharing Policy and accompanying supplemental information. According to the policy, it applies to all research, funded or conducted in whole or in part by NIH, that generates scientific data. The effective date of the NIH policy is January 25, 2023 (i.e., for competitive grant applications or contract proposals submitted for that date, or other research projects conducted on or after that date). The policy states that compliance with the data management and sharing plans developed pursuant to it is a term and condition of extramural awards and contracts, and that compliance for intramural research projects and other funding agreements...
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| Department of Homeland Security | The Secretary of Homeland Security should develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 26) | The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concurred with this recommendation and stated it would develop a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the department's public access plan and data management plan requirements. According to a September 2021 update, DHS said that its components that conduct R&D provide reviewers that serve as administrative gatekeepers. DHS said it expected that usage rates for publications and data repositories would increase since mandatory metadata must be entered before articles and data can be placed in a repository. Both repositories have the ability to gather user metrics that DHS will use to determine user compliance. DHS said it will use that...
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| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator should fully develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 27) | The Department of Commerce agreed with this recommendation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicated it was pursuing multiple mechanisms to implement it. According to information NOAA provided in January and June 2021, the agency planned a multi-pronged approach to better understand the extent of compliance issues with its public access plan and to address them. For instance, in May 2021, NOAA's Acting Chief Scientist communicated the importance of complying with the public access plan agency-wide. NOAA's June 2021 update also indicated that the agency's Science Council was investigating the reasons for, and proposing changes to improve public access plan...
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| Department of Energy | The Secretary of Energy should fully develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 28) | The Department of Energy concurred with this recommendation stating that it would develop a compliance mechanism to identify researchers receiving funding from DOE financial assistance awards who are not compliant with DOE's public access plan for publications. According to information DOE provided, DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) engaged individual DOE programs/awarding offices to discuss plans and approaches for ensuring researcher compliance with public access and to determine a primary compliance mechanism that may be used to identify accepted manuscripts published by DOE financial assistance awardees (extramural researchers). DOE's OSTI developed...
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| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should fully develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 29) | The Department of Veterans Affairs concurred with this recommendation but indicated in its comments on the report that it had already taken steps to implement it. As discussed in the report, the department's public access compliance mechanism covered a portion of the agency's federally-funded research data. In a June 2020 update, VA indicated it planned to examine opportunities and develop plans that address public access for other types of research it supports, including compliance mechanisms. In a December 2020 update, VA officials noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had resulted in delays in its efforts. In an August 2021 update, VA officials said actions for researcher compliance are...
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| Department of Transportation | The Secretary of Transportation should fully develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 30) | The Department of Transportation concurred with this recommendation. According to its response to our report, the Department will build upon existing compliance mechanisms to ensure researcher compliance with its public access plan and associated requirements. As part of this process, the Department reported that it plans to update its public access plan, and initially expected to complete these actions by December 31, 2020. According to May and September 2024 updates, the Department is still developing its updated public access policy. In developing the policy, the Department stated its intent to strengthen the requirements to ensure compliance by requiring each Department funding...
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| National Institute of Standards and Technology | The National Institute of Standards and Technology Director should fully develop and implement a mechanism to ensure researcher compliance with the public access plan and associated requirements. (Recommendation 31) | The Department of Commerce agreed with this recommendation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) identified several planned steps to implement it. Specifically, in January 2021, NIST deployed a system developed to identify NIST-authored papers that have been published, and ensure that all NIST authors are in compliance with the requirement that papers are made freely available within 12 months of publication. Previously, NIST also completed a review of awardees' compliance with data management plan requirements, and took steps (e.g., developing a template and checklist) to address issues NIST identified. Additionally, NIST took steps to evaluate an option to...
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| Office of Science and Technology Policy |
Priority Rec.
As the Subcommittee on Open Science moves forward, the Office of Science and Technology Policy co-chair, in coordination with other co-chairs and participating agencies, should take steps to fully implement leading practices that enhance and sustain collaboration. (Recommendation 32) |
OSTP initially disagreed with GAO's November 2019 recommendation, stating that the subcommittee had already taken steps to implement the leading practices GAO identified; however, OSTP officials did not provide documentation of these efforts and GAO continued to believe the recommendation was warranted. Since 2019, OSTP provided information at several points on steps taken by the subcommittee to address issues associated with public access to federally funded research results, including certain areas GAO identified as presenting challenges to public access plan implementation. In February 2023, OSTP provided information on the subcommittee's efforts including identifying the focus areas...
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| Department of Defense | As the Subcommittee on Open Science moves forward, the Department of Defense co-chair, in coordination with other co-chairs and participating agencies, should take steps to fully implement leading practices that enhance and sustain collaboration. (Recommendation 33) | DOD concurred with GAO's November 2019 recommendation. Since 2019, OSTP provided information at several points on steps taken by the subcommittee to address issues associated with public access to federally funded research results, including certain areas GAO identified as presenting challenges to public access plan implementation. In February 2023, OSTP provided information on the subcommittee's efforts including identifying the focus areas of the subcommittee's six subgroups and detailing the subcommittee's current agency members and roles. In February and March 2024, OSTP provided additional information on how the subcommittee is fully implementing other practices GAO evaluated,...
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| Department of Energy | As the Subcommittee on Open Science moves forward, the Department of Energy co-chair, in coordination with other co-chairs and participating agencies, should take steps to fully implement leading practices that enhance and sustain collaboration. (Recommendation 34) | DOE concurred with GAO's November 2019 recommendation. Since 2019, OSTP provided information at several points on steps taken by the subcommittee to address issues associated with public access to federally funded research results, including certain areas GAO identified as presenting challenges to public access plan implementation. In February 2023, OSTP provided information on the subcommittee's efforts including identifying the focus areas of the subcommittee's six subgroups and detailing the subcommittee's current agency members and roles. In February and March 2024, OSTP provided additional information on how the subcommittee is fully implementing other practices GAO evaluated,...
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| National Institutes of Health | As the Subcommittee on Open Science moves forward, the National Institutes of Health co-chair, in coordination with other co-chairs and participating agencies, should take steps to fully implement leading practices that enhance and sustain collaboration. (Recommendation 35) | NIH concurred with GAO's November 2019 recommendation. Since 2019, OSTP provided information at several points on steps taken by the subcommittee to address issues associated with public access to federally funded research results, including certain areas GAO identified as presenting challenges to public access plan implementation. In February 2023, OSTP provided information on the subcommittee's efforts including identifying the focus areas of the subcommittee's six subgroups and detailing the subcommittee's current agency members and roles. In February and March 2024, OSTP provided additional information on how the subcommittee is fully implementing other practices GAO evaluated,...
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| National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | As the Subcommittee on Open Science moves forward, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration co-chair, in coordination with other co-chairs and participating agencies, should take steps to fully implement leading practices that enhance and sustain collaboration. (Recommendation 36) | NOAA concurred with GAO's November 2019 recommendation, noting that NOAA would work with the subcommittee to identify more opportunities for collaboration to promote access to research results. Since 2019, OSTP provided information at several points on steps taken by the subcommittee to address issues associated with public access to federally funded research results, including certain areas GAO identified as presenting challenges to public access plan implementation. In February 2023, OSTP provided information on the subcommittee's efforts including identifying the focus areas of the subcommittee's six subgroups and detailing the subcommittee's current agency members and roles. In...
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| National Science Foundation | As the Subcommittee on Open Science moves forward, the National Science Foundation co-chair, in coordination with other co-chairs and participating agencies, should take steps to fully implement leading practices that enhance and sustain collaboration. (Recommendation 37) | NSF concurred with GAO's November 2019 recommendation and took steps to implement it. According to information NSF provided in December 2021, the subcommittee was undertaking interagency efforts to address issues associated with public access to federally funded research results. Additionally, since 2019, OSTP provided information at several points on steps taken by the subcommittee to address issues associated with public access to federally funded research results, including certain areas GAO identified as presenting challenges to public access plan implementation. In February 2023, OSTP provided information on the subcommittee's efforts including identifying the focus areas of the...
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