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Understanding Open Access

The purpose of this guide is to give VDOT employees a basic overview of "Open Access" journals (and other OA resources). This guide does not discuss "Open Data."

Federal Agency Requirements

In 2013, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a policy memorandum directing federal agencies to develop policies to make the publications and data resulting from funded research freely available to the public. Not all agencies have stated Open Access policies, but those that do are linked below. The list highlights access solutions for journal articles that are defined as research deliverables, and in the case of the U.S. DOT it is rare that "articles" are defined as deliverables. Typically "reports" are the deliverable. This list will be updated as new information becomes available. Agency examples are listed below.


Agency

     Article Solution

     Maximum Embargo Period

ACL/ NIDILRR     

     PubMed Central (PMC)

     12 months

AHRQ

     PMC

     12 months following publication date

ASPR     

     PMC 

     12 months

CDC

     CDC Stacks, using NIHMS submission system

     12 months

DOD  

     Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)

     12 months

DOE

     Public Access Gateway for Energy & Science (PAGES)

     12 months

DOT

     DOT National Transportation Library (NTL)

     12 months

FDA

     PMC

     12 months

IES

     ERIC

     12 months

NASA

     NASA branded PMC portal

     12 months

NIST

     PMC interface

     12 months + reserves right to shorten/extend 

NIH

     PMC

     12 months

NOAA

     NOAA Institutional Repository

     12 months

NSF

     NSF-PAR

     12 months

SI

     SRO, CHORUS

     12 months

USAID 

     N/A

     N/A

USDA

     USDA public access archive system (PubAg)

     12 months

USGS

     Info.Product Data Sys. (IPDS) & USGS Pubs. Warehouse

     12 months

VA

     PMC

     12 months

Note: Original table created by Columbia University Library from a community-sourced document tracking OSTP Responses: http://bit.ly/FedOASummary

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