I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3157 

To ensure public access to published materials concerning scientific research 

and development activities funded by Federal science agencies. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013 

Mr. SENSENBRENNER (for himself and Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of 

Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To ensure public access to published materials concerning 

scientific research and development activities funded by 

Federal science agencies. 

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 ‘‘Public Access to Public 

5 Science Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each covered agency shall formu8 late and implement a public access policy to make covered 

9 works publicly available, without charge, on the day after 


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1 the end of the embargo period, in a manner consistent 

2 with copyright law. 

3 (b) SPECIFICATIONS.—The public access policy 

4 shall— 

5 (1) allow the public to read, download, and ana6 lyze by machine covered works in digital form; 

7 (2) facilitate easy public search of, analysis of, 

8 and access to covered works; 

9 (3) encourage public-private collaboration to— 

10 (A) maximize the potential for interoper11 ability between public and private platforms; 

12 (B) avoid unnecessary duplication of exist13 ing mechanisms; and 

14 (C) maximize the impact of the covered 

15 agency’s research investment; 

16 (4) ensure that attribution to authors, journals, 

17 and original publishers is maintained; and 

18 (5) ensure that publications and metadata are 

19 stored in an archive that— 

20 (A) provides for long-term preservation 

21 and access to full content of the covered work 

22 without charge, where appropriate, and bal23 ancing cost and public value; 

24 (B) uses a standard, widely available, and, 

25 to the extent possible, nonproprietary archival 


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1 format for text and associated content, includ2 ing images, video, and supporting data; 

3 (C) provides access for persons with dis4 abilities consistent with section 508 of the Re5 habilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and 

6 (D) enables integration and interoper7 ability with other public access repositories. 

8 (c) METADATA.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), a 

9 covered agency’s public access policy shall ensure full pub10 lic access to covered works’ metadata without charge upon 

11 first publication in a data format that ensures interoper12 ability with current and anticipated future search tech13 nology. Where possible, the metadata shall provide a link 

14 to the location where the full text and associated supple15 mental materials will be made available at the end of the 

16 applicable embargo period. 

17 SEC. 3. FORMULATION OF A PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each public access policy shall in19 clude— 

20 (1) a strategy for enabling the public to elec21 tronically locate and access publications resulting 

22 from federally funded scientific research; 

23 (2) a strategy for maintaining a repository or 

24 repositories, either within the covered agency or 

25 through an arrangement with another Federal agenVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:37 Sep 26, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3157.IH H3157

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1 cy or agencies or through an arrangement with a 

2 public or private entity, if consistent with the pur3 poses of this Act, including free public access in per4 petuity, interoperability, and long-term preservation, 

5 so long as the covered agency maintains an active 

6 Web link to the repository or repositories for public 

7 access; 

8 (3) a strategy for incorporating existing covered 

9 works into the repository or repositories required 

10 under paragraph (2) to the extent practicable; 

11 (4) a strategy for notifying research funding re12 cipients of their obligations under this Act; and 

13 (5) a strategy for taking into account different 

14 funding models for scholarly publishing, including 

15 author-pays fees, in the covered agency’s grant and 

16 other funding mechanisms. 

17 (b) COORDINATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS.—In de18 veloping its public access policy, the covered agency shall 

19 use a transparent process for soliciting views from stake20 holders, including federally funded researchers, institu21 tions of higher education, libraries, publishers, users of 

22 federally funded research results, and civil society groups. 

23 (c) COORDINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL AGEN24 CIES.—In developing its public access policy, the covered 

25 agency shall collaborate and coordinate with other Federal 


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1 agencies to maximize the consistency and compatibility of 

2 public access across the Federal Government. 

3 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 6 

4 months after the date of enactment of this Act, each cov5 ered agency shall transmit a report, containing its public 

6 access policy and the mechanism described in section 6, 

7 to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 

8 the House of Representatives and the Committee on Com9 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. 

10 SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

12 transmission of the report required under section 3(d), 

13 each covered agency shall implement its public access pol14 icy. 

15 (b) INPUT.—The implementation of such policy, in16 cluding the mechanism described in section 6, shall con17 sider input provided by relevant stakeholders and other 

18 Federal agencies. 

19 (c) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this Act shall 

20 affect the application of United States copyright law. 

21 SEC. 5. PERIODIC REVIEW. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—At least once every 5 years, each 

23 covered agency shall revise, as necessary, its public access 

24 policy, including the mechanism described in section 6. 


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1 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Each covered agency 

2 shall transmit a report containing its public access policy 

3 and the mechanism described in section 6, as revised 

4 under subsection (a), to the Committee on Science, Space, 

5 and Technology of the House of Representatives and the 

6 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 

7 the Senate not later than 30 days after completing such 

8 revision. 

9 SEC. 6. MECHANISM FOR MODIFICATION OF EMBARGO PE10 RIOD. 

11 Each covered agency, in coordination with the stake12 holders described in section 3(b), shall provide a mecha13 nism for a stakeholder to petition to change the embargo 

14 period under this section for specific covered works by pre15 senting evidence that the public interest will be substan16 tially and uniquely harmed under a covered agency’s pub17 lic access policy related to such work. If a covered agency 

18 determines that the public interest will be substantially 

19 and uniquely harmed upon reviewing the petition, the cov20 ered agency may change the embargo period by no more 

21 than 6 months at a time from its current embargo period. 

22 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

23 For the purposes of this Act— 

24 (1) the term ‘‘covered agency’’ means— 


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1 (A) the National Aeronautics and Space 

2 Administration; 

3 (B) the National Science Foundation; 

4 (C) the National Institute of Standards 

5 and Technology; and 

6 (D) the National Weather Service. 

7 (2) the term ‘‘covered work’’ means any peer8 reviewed research results published in scholarly pub9 lications that are based on research funded in whole 

10 or in part by a covered agency, but such term does 

11 not include— 

12 (A) research progress reports presented at 

13 professional meetings or conferences; 

14 (B) laboratory notes, preliminary data 

15 analyses, notes of the author, phone logs, or 

16 other information used to produce final manu17 scripts; 

18 (C) classified research; or 

19 (D) work not submitted to a peer-reviewed 

20 publication or work that is rejected by a peer21 reviewed publication; and 

22 (3) the term ‘‘embargo period’’ means the pe23 riod of time no more than 12 months after the iniVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:37 Sep 26, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3157.IH H3157

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1 tial date of publication of a covered work, unless 

2 modified under section 6. 

Æ 


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