II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 877 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to allow public access to research 

of the Department, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 7, 2013 

Mr. BEGICH introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to allow public 

access to research of the Department, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Affairs Re5 search Transparency Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC ACCESS TO DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

7 AFFAIRS RESEARCH AND DATA SHARING BE8 TWEEN DEPARTMENTS. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNET WEBSITE.—The 

10 Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall make available on an 


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1 Internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

2 available to the public the following: 

3 (1) Data files that contain information on re4 search of the Department. 

5 (2) A data dictionary on each data file. 

6 (3) Instructions for how to obtain access to 

7 each data file for use in research. 

8 (b) PUBLIC ACCESS TO MANUSCRIPTS ON DEPART9 MENT FUNDED RESEARCH.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 

11 540 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

12 the Secretary shall require, as a condition on the use 

13 of any data gathered or formulated from research 

14 funded by the Department, that any final, peer-re15 viewed manuscript prepared for publication that 

16 uses such data be submitted to the Secretary for de17 posit in the digital archive established under para18 graph (2) and publication under paragraph (3). 

19 (2) ESTABLISHMENT OF DIGITAL ARCHIVE.— 

20 Not later than 540 days after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a dig22 ital archive consisting of manuscripts described in 

23 paragraph (1). 

24 (3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.— 


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1 (A) AVAILABILITY OF ARCHIVE.—The Sec2 retary shall make the digital archive established 

3 under paragraph (2) and the contents of such 

4 archive available to the public via a publicly ac5 cessible Internet website at not cost to the pub6 lic. 

7 (B) AVAILABILITY OF MANUSCRIPTS.—The 

8 Secretary shall ensure that each manuscript 

9 submitted to the Secretary under paragraph (1) 

10 is available to the public under subparagraph 

11 (A) not later than one year after the official 

12 date on which the manuscript is otherwise pub13 lished. 

14 (4) CONSISTENT WITH COPYRIGHT LAW.—The 

15 Secretary shall carry out this subsection in a man16 ner consistent with applicable copyright law. 

17 (5) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

19 after the date the Secretary begins making 

20 manuscripts available to the public under this 

21 subsection and not less frequently than once 

22 each year thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 

23 to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 

24 Senate and the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

25 of the House of Representatives a report on the 


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1 implementation of this subsection during the 

2 most recent one-year period. 

3 (B) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted 

4 under subparagraph (A) shall include for the 

5 period of the report: 

6 (i) The number of manuscripts sub7 mitted under paragraph (1). 

8 (ii) The titles of such manuscripts. 

9 (iii) The authors of such manuscripts. 

10 (iv) For each such manuscript, the 

11 name and issue number or volume number, 

12 as the case may be, of the journal or other 

13 publication in which such manuscript was 

14 published. 

15 (c) RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DATA SHARING BE16 TWEEN DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND DE17 PARTMENT OF DEFENSE.—Not later than one year after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Department of 

19 Veterans Affairs-Department of Defense Joint Executive 

20 Committee established by section 320(a) of title 38, 

21 United States Code, shall submit to the Secretary of Vet22 erans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense options and 

23 recommendations for establishment of a program for long24 term cooperation and data-sharing between and within the 

25 Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of 


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1 Defense to facilitate research on outcomes of military serv2 ice, readjustment after combat deployment, and other top3 ics of importance to the following: 

4 (1) Veterans. 

5 (2) Members of the Armed Forces. 

6 (3) Family members of veterans. 

7 (4) Family members of members of the Armed 

8 Forces. 

9 (5) Members of communities that have a sig10 nificant population of veterans or members of the 

11 Armed Forces. 

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