The US Government Accountability Office (#GAO) just reviewed the #OpenAccess policies at nine federal agencies.
https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-26-107738

A few highlights:

* Among other things, GAO looked for compliance with the #NelsonMemo. This is further evidence that the #Trump admin supports the memo.

* It encourages #NSF and #USDA to go further to ensure #reuse rights. (That would be good.) But it assumes that the other agencies are already doing enough to ensure reuse rights. (I can't agree with this.)

* It praises #NIH for taking steps to reduce money spent on grantee #APCs, and encourages other agencies to follow the NIH lead on this.

* In a few places it leaves the false impression (1) that all OA journals charge APCs and (2) that all publishers are responding the federal policies by charging APCs to publish fed-funded research.

#PublicAccess #ScholComm #USPol #USPolitics

1/ I'm sympathetic to #NIH-funded authors who want to publish in certain #APC-based #OpenAccess journals and can't find the money to pay the APCs. But it's false to say that they must publish in those journals, in any other APC-based OA journals, or even in OA journals. Shame on _Inside Higher Ed_ for leaving this false impression..
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/research/2025/12/05/nih-policy-holding-researchers-hostage

PS: I repeat: Compliance with the NIH OA policy is free of charge. Moreover, compliance is all about depositing in a certain repository, not publishing in a certain journal or kind of journal. The NIH has a #GreenOA policy, not a #GoldOA policy. The same is true for all the other federal agencies with OA policies, not just the NIH. When a journal charges NIH-funded authors an APC to publish, the fee is to publish in that particular journal, not to comply with the NIH policy. Don't be fooled by the widespread misunderstanding that compliance with these policies requires paying any kind of fee. Don't be fooled by journals and publishers that cynically spread this myth themselves or leave it uncorrected. You can help by correcting this falsehood wherever you see it. You can also help by working with hiring, promotion, tenure, and funding committees to care more about the quality of research than the journals in which it is published.

🧵

#APCs #NelsonMemo #NIH #OpenAccess #OAintheUSA #PublicAccess #Repositories

The #AuthorsAlliance (@AuthorsAlliance) just updated its excellent FAQ on the new #NIH #OpenAccess policy.

Here's the original FAQ from June 6, 2025.
https://www.authorsalliance.org/2025/06/06/the-nih-public-access-policy-qa-for-authors/

Here's the update from July 18, 2025, answering several additional questions.
https://www.authorsalliance.org/2025/07/18/an-update-nih-and-publisher-guidance-what-authors-need-to-know-about-nihs-public-access-policy/

#NelsonMemo #OSTP #Publishers

While the #Trump admin has not revoked or weakened the #OSTP #NelsonMemo, and the #NIH even accelerated its effective date, the #Republican led House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science is trying to defund its implementation. #SPARC just released an open letter asking the committee to change course.
https://sparcopen.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Against-Section-550-in-House-CJS-FY-26-.pdf

"I am writing to respectfully urge you to strike Section 550 from the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, which would prohibit funding to implement the Office of Science and Technology Policy's August 25, 2022, memorandum ensuring free, immediate access to federally funded research…Rather than blocking #OpenAccess requirements, we should focus on addressing legitimate concerns about cost structures - including publication expenses - to ensure that access to publicly funded research is available while protecting taxpayers from unreasonable costs."

#DefendResearch #Funding #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics

Many thanks to @AuthorsAlliance for launching this form to collect author experiences under the new federal #OpenAccess policies, including the #NIH policy.
https://www.authorsalliance.org/fedpublicaccess/

"We are particularly interested in learning about:
* Challenges with #publishers whose policies may disallow their uploading of articles to agency-designated #repositories;
* Common questions or points of confusion expressed by grantees;
* Confusion or questions about agency guidance;
* Other technical, legal, or practical barriers to depositing articles."

Note to #librarians: When you encounter authors facing any kind of problem with a fed OA policy (understanding, compliance, publishing), please refer them to this form. The more we document the problems, the more we can facilitate solutions.

#Monitoring #NelsonMemo #OSTP

The #NIH just released new info on its zero-embargo #OpenAccess policy, which takes effect next week (July 1).
https://grants.nih.gov/policy-and-compliance/policy-topics/public-access

This includes:

* a new overview of the policy itself
https://grants.nih.gov/policy-and-compliance/policy-topics/public-access/nih-public-access-policy-overview

* a new overview of the methods for submitting papers to comply with the policy
https://grants.nih.gov/policy-and-compliance/policy-topics/public-access/submitting-pubmed-central

* and a new FAQ.
https://grants.nih.gov/faqs#/public-access-policy

#Embargoes #GreenOA #Medicine #NelsonMemo #PubMedCentral #OSTP

Alondra Nelson — of the #OSTP #NelsonMemo on #OpenAccess — just resigned her positions at the National Science Foundation (#NSF) and Library of Congress (#LOC). Read her resignation letter.
https://time.com/7285045/resigning-national-science-foundation-library-congress/

"Even as the White House threatens the foundational tenets of constitutional democracy and continues to slash funding for essential social services, it is tempting to hope that the public institutions charged with promoting and protecting knowledge will, nevertheless, soldier on with their mission. I did…[But] perseverance has its limits. The erosion of these institutions’ integrity —and the growing realization that it is impossible to fulfill their missions in good faith— has made the cost of continuing untenable."

#DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics
@alondra