Buried in the omnibus spending bill passed by Congress is language that would require taxpayer-funded research to be made publicly available online within 12 months of publication.

Under the bill, federal agencies with more than $100 billion in research and development expenditures per year must develop an open access policy that provides for public access to “a machine-readable version of the author’s final peer-reviewed manuscripts that have been accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals” for research supported, in whole or in part, by federal funding.

The proposal is similar to a recommendation made by last year by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

For information on AERA’s support of open access, visit AERA’s Open Access web portal and read the story hyperlinked below.

Related story:

“AERA Executive Director Comments on Federal Open Access Policies,” AERA Highlights, May 2013