NSF Public Access Policy Changes

Over the past year, NSF has sharpened its focus on expanding access to the results of its projects, as detailed in its March 2015 public access plan, Today’s Data, Tomorrow’s Discoveries. This new plan applies to all proposals due starting January 25, 2016, the effective date of the updated Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (see our previous post for additional information on PAPPG updates).

PI's submitting proposals on or after that date must submit their research to the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR), a public access compliant repository, where it will be tagged with metadata elements and made available for free public download, reading, and analysis no later than 12 months after publication.

To enroll in the NSF listserv and receive system updates on NSF’s Public Access Initiative, Research.gov and FastLane, email system_updates-subscribe-request@listserv.nsf.gov.

For more information on the Public Access policy, see Public Access to Results of NSF-Funded Research.