Bill > S350

This bill, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2013, requires federal agencies that spend over $100 million on research annually to develop and implement policies ensuring public access to research funded by the government. These policies must mandate that researchers submit electronic versions of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts to the agency, which will then make them publicly available online for free within six months of publication. The bill emphasizes that this access should allow for productive reuse, including computational analysis, and that research papers should be preserved in a stable digital repository. The policies will apply to both federal employees and researchers funded by federal grants, with certain exceptions for classified research, works generating revenue, patentable discoveries, and unpublished or rejected works. Federal agencies will also be required to submit annual reports to Congress detailing the effectiveness of their public access policies and the accessibility of the research they fund.