Implementation Plan to Increase 

Access to USDA-funded Research 

Results

Q & A Session

2/20/2024
Today’s Agenda

• Introductions

• History of Public Access Policy

@ USDA

• Implementation Plan Details

• Question and Answer Period
Public access makes scientific 

information freely available to all. 

Benefits of public access include:

Equal access to 

research 

products

Discovery and 

innovation in 

agricultural 

research

Enablement of 

data-driven 

decision-making

Scientific 

accountability, 

transparency, 

and integrity
Federal Drivers of Public Access

• Federal requirements laid out in two White House Office of

Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) memorandums:

• Increasing Access to the Results of Federally Funded

Scientific Research (2013)

• Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to

Federally Funded Research (2022)

• Implementation is ongoing across federal science

agencies; coordination through NSTC Subcommittee on

Open Science

• Alignment with implementation of other external drivers

(e.g., OPEN Government Data Act of 2018)
Public Access Milestones at USDA

Policy

Implementation

2013

OSTP 

Memorandum:

Increasing Access to 

the Results of 

Federally Funded 

Scientific Research

2014

Implementation Plan 

to Increase Public 

Access to Results of 

USDA-funded 

Scientific Research

2015

PubAg and Ag 

Data Commons 

launched

2016

USDA Public 

Access Policy for 

Scholarly 

Publications

2019

USDA Public 

Access Policy for 

Digital Scientific 

Research Data

2022

USDA DR 1020-006: 

Public Access to Scholarly 

Publications and Digital 

Scientific Research Data

OSTP Memo: Ensuring 

Free, Immediate, and 

Equitable Access to 

Federally Funded 

Research

Departmentwide 

implementation 

of DR 1020-006 

begins

2023

Implementation Plan 

to Increase Public 

Access to USDAfunded Research 

Results
2022 OSTP Memorandum: Ensuring Free, Immediate,

and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research

1. Update their public access policies as soon as possible,

and no later than December 31st, 2025, to make

publications and their supporting data resulting from

federally funded research publicly accessible without an

embargo on their free and public release

2. Establish transparent procedures that ensure scientific and

research integrity is maintained in public access policies

3. Coordinate with OSTP to ensure equitable delivery of

federally funded research results and data
• Published June 2023

• Updated

implementation plan to

carry out White House

OSTP memorandum:

Ensuring Free,

Immediate, and

Equitable Access to

Federally Funded

Research (Aug 2022)

• Includes a three-year

roadmap for

implementation

activities and milestones
Implementation Plan Roadmap: FY 2024

• Continue customer and stakeholder engagement to validate information

and requirements for making USDA-funded research freely, immediately,

and equitably accessible by December 31, 2025.

• Make changes to existing USDA public access policy, following statutory

and regulatory requirements and processes, so that USDA can implement

new policies by December 31, 2025.

• Ensure ongoing operations and maintenance, and enhancements to

PubAg, Ag Data Commons, and research management systems to ensure

public access to USDA-funded research outputs, with an emphasis on

digital persistent identifier issues to integrate research outputs consistently

and at scale.

• Prototype automated reporting frameworks and processes needed to

analyze policy effectiveness.

• Develop plans to carry out likely development needs as well as needs

revealed during the policy development and implementation process.

• Develop new outreach and training materials and validate them with

customers and community stakeholders.
Scope of DR 1020-006

People • All USDA mission areas, agencies, and staff offices

• All USDA employees who engage in scientific research during

official duties

• Awardees and contractors from non-USDA organizations who

are engaged in USDA-supported scientific research

Research

All unclassified scientific research (intramural and extramural) 

supported wholly or in part by the USDA, regardless of the USDA 

funding level or funding mechanism. This includes scientific 

research supported by: 

• Any direct funding from a USDA grant or cooperative

agreement active in Fiscal Year 2023 or beyond

• Any direct funding from a USDA contract signed on or after

October 1, 2022

• Any direct funding or arrangement, including in-kind support,

from any USDA Intramural Research
Outline of Policy Requirements

1. Scholarly Publications

2. Digital Scientific Research Data

a. Public Access

b. Data Management Plans

3. Persistent Identifiers
1. Requirements for Scholarly Publications

Scope: 

Peer-reviewed journal articles published by nongovernmental organizations

Accepted manuscripts must be made freely available to the public 

through PubAg within 12 months of upon publication.

In most cases these should be submitted to submit.nal.usda.gov.

Final published articles may be submitted to PubAg to satisfy this 

requirement, if the author has the right to share the published version (i.e., 

open access articles)
2. Requirements for Digital Scientific

Research Data

Scope: 

Digital scientific research data that are appropriate for public access

Published in a machine-readable format in recognized repository that 

provides public access, persistent identifier, and preservation

Public access within 12 months of on publishing date of associated 

scholarly publication, or end of performance period, 

whichever comes first

Standardized metadata catalog entry in the Ag Data Commons
2. a. Requirements for Digital Scientific

Research Data

Digital scientific research data assets should be made publicly accessible to 

fullest extent practicable.

However, nine categories of digital scientific research data assets should not 

be made publicly accessible, including:

• Data that would not be necessary for validation of scientific research findings (i.e., trivial data)

• Data assets that include personally identifiable information (PII) or other information that could

enable re-identification of individuals or businesses

• Proprietary data assets

• Data assets related to protecting critical infrastructure

• Data assets related to the physical location of threatened or endangered species or sensitive

archaeological sites

• Data assets for which release would be inconsistent with U.S. national, homeland, or economic

security or would have significant negative impact on intellectual property rights, innovation,

and U.S. competitiveness

• Data assets for which public access is inconsistent with agency mission (e.g., documents

designated CUI)

• Other data assets whose release is limited by law, regulation, contract, agreement, national

security requirements, or policy (e.g., classified data or dual-use research data)

• Data covered by a FOIA exemption
NAL Resources for Data Sharing and Cataloging

https://www.nal.usda.gov/d

ata/find-data-repository

https://agdatacommons.nal.

usda.gov/
2. b. Requirements for Digital Scientific

Research Data

Scope: 

All scientific research covered by this DR

All scientific research must be accompanied by a reviewed and agency- or 

office-approved data management plan (DMP)

DMP must describe how digital scientific research data assets will be made 

publicly accessible and indicate any categories of digital scientific research data 

assets that are exempt from public access requirements
NAL Resources for Data Management Planning

Suggested DMP 

Components

1. Expected data

types

2. Data formats and

standards

3. Data storage and

preservation of

access

4. Data sharing and

public access

5. Roles and

responsibilities

6. Monitoring and

reporting

https://www.nal.usda.gov/data/data-management-planning
3. Requirements for Digital Persistent

Identifiers

Scope: 

All authors of research products covered by the DR, research products

Authors of scholarly publications and digital scientific research data assets should 

use individual persistent identifiers 

(e.g., ORCID iD)

USDA-funded authors who are not USDA staff can go to http://orcid.org or use their 

institution’s links.

Research products should receive persistent identifiers
USDA Public Access Landing Page 

https://www.nal.usda.gov/services/public-access

• Implementation Support

• DR 1020-006

• Implementation Guide

• FAQs

• Resources & Services

• PubAg

• Ag Data Commons

• Trainings, templates,

compliance checklists, etc.

• Agency & Office Public

Access Points of

Contact (TBA)

• Federal register notices and

public comment links
We invite you to provide written comments 

through February 28, 2024

Federal Register notice posted 1/29/2024 

Go to Regulations.gov, search for “2024-01673”

or go directly to: 

https://www.regulations.gov/document/NAL-2024-0001-0001

Download the document (same as the FR notice) 

and use comment button to leave your comment.
Thank You!

• Office of the Chief Scientist is policy owner

• Rich Derksen, Rich.Derksen@usda.gov

• The National Agricultural Library provides

implementation support • Cynthia Sims Parr, Cynthia.Parr@usda.gov