Questions and responses from the July 17th webinar to the external community on NASA's updated Public Access Plan

Number Question Topic Answer

3

Are there plans to build knowledge graphs for sharing data in a FAIR-complying way, using an 

ontological framework to structure them? Discoverability

NASA is investigating different options to improve the discoverability 

of our data and how we make our information avaiable so that it is 

Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. Different groups 

are looking at different frameworks for how data is made FAIR and 

these projects will be shared publicly. 

21

Can artificial intelligence be a negative factor in disclosure matter AI

AI models may expose restricted information if, for example, that is 

included in the training data. Issues like this are being investigated as part 

of the overall efforts to assess the use of AI at NASA. As an individual 

researcher, this might be some of the issues described as part of a data 

management plan. 

22

Is the only way to submit an AAM through the separate form? How does NASA plan to promote 

this as a no-cost compliance option 

author 

manuscript 

submission

There is no cost associated with submitting an AAM into the PubSpace 

collection in NTRS

7

Is NASA encouraging all authors to submit articles through CHORUS? What is the process for an 

author to submit their AAM? CHORUS / AAM No - authors should chose the most appropriate journal for their 

publication.

8

Regarding sharing data necessary to validate or reproduce the published results, do you have 

any idea how many petabytes you may be requiring? data Yes - sharing very large data sets is possible.

13

There are data that cannot be shared because of privacy concerns. There shoul dbe exceptions 

to this rule, are you considering these? data Many exceptions (including privacy issues) are called out in the plan as was 

mentioned several times during the presentation.

17

On sharing unpublished data prior to the end of the grant term, are school-published 

theses/dissertations adequate? data If it's freely publicly accessible then OK.

14

Many papers use entirely public data, eg 2MASS photometry, make plots, and draw conclusions. 

It is dishonest to republish? data If the data are already public, no need to republish, simply refer to the 

existing DOI.

10

Will LLMs (e.g., GPT) have access to this online content? If so, how would it be protected from 

misuse? 

generative AI 

protection

LLMs and any other AI tool will of course have access to any publicly posted 

data and text. Unfortunately NASA has no control over that.

16

What sort of efforts ensured to avoid any sort of misinformation, for 'Open Science' access 

under 'Biodiversity categories'? misinformation Don't believe there is much NASA can do in this regard. NASA's job is make 

its research open to the public. 

9

Your insights on Exploitation by Predatory Publishers. How to overcome such challenges via 

NASA's PAP? 

Predatory 

Publishing

Informing NASA researchers about predatory publishers is on-going 

through its Scientific Integrity program.

12

Can a funding proposal be rejected for not being "open" enough? Is there a rubric by which 

proposals are judged? 

proposal 

evaluation

There are clear guidelines for how proposals are judged. Please speak to 

your Program Executive and/or Program Scientist.

1

Open software sometimes has technological limitations; some of the research analyzing satellite 

imagery cannot be done in open software and can limit innovation software There is no limitation on using commercial software in the new Research 

Access Plan. 

2

What exactly is meant by s/w? The simple scripts used to make plots? Which version of 'the' s/w 

needs sharing? All the libraries I've been accumulating for the last 20+ years? Not all of those are 

mine, some are copyrighted by others 

software Please see the Research Access Plan for the definition of software 

and the expectations on what to share. 

4

Many institutes considers most if not all s/w to be intellectual property and often place 

copyright markings on it. That could significantly limit the s/w that gets released. What are your 

thoughts on that? 

software

Software is usually released under licenses that are based around 

copyright. The expectation is that the software that is developed as part of 

NASA funded research is made publicly available while still respecting rights 

related to intellectual property or restrictions that may prevent the release. 

6

What is the expected timeline for the requirement for s/w to be publicly 

available? software Software developed under grant is expected to be released at the time of 

publication or at the end of a research award. 
11

Can you clarify the scope of the "Proprietary" exception for software disclosure? Does that 

include previously developed software that has not been published and is used as an input to 

the project

software

At this time, policy only applies to newly developed software

15

Software can become obsolete and inoperable on timescales on months, so how does sharing it 

help researchers rather than frustrate? software Researchers can still read the software even if they can not use it to 

better understand what was being done in the research project. 

18

Is funding specifically able to be requested for user support for very large software packages? 

For example, Earth atmospheric models are extremely complex to run and are usually supported 

by a large climate modeling center, so planetary atmospheric models also require a lot of 

support. 

software

There are a number of NASA solicitations and opportunities that 

support software development and maintaince. The Science Mission 

Directorate's ROSES23 Open Source Tools, Frameworks, and 

Libraries solicitation is an example of one. 

19

Does NASA have additional funds to support the significant work involved i properly 

documenting software? If not, doesn't that mean there will be less funds for the actual scientific 

work available to the community? 

software

There are a number of NASA solicitations and opportunities that 

support software development and maintaince. The Science Mission 

Directorate's ROSES23 Open Source Tools, Frameworks, and 

Libraries solicitation is an example of one. 

20

What happens when a large, complex software package is released to the public but the grant 

ends? Will we be able to propose to fund continuing the user support, which is vital to ensuring 

that the package continues to be used correctly and valuably? 

software

There are a number of NASA solicitations and opportunities that 

support software development and maintaince. The Science Mission 

Directorate's ROSES23 Open Source Tools, Frameworks, and 

Libraries solicitation is an example of one. 

23

Per Steve Crawford's comment (software and data are commensurate with publications), how 

does NASA/ADS envision making it possible to cite data or software so that it is a citable 

reference just the same as a publication record in ADS? 

software

ADS already makes software citable, and there are a number of services 

that can be used to make software citable. See for example: 

https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2023AAS...24117743J/abstract. Or see 

here for more ways to make your software citable: 

https://github.com/nasa/smd-open-scienceguidelines/blob/main/OSS_Guidance/Software_Management_Sharing.md#

where-to-share-software

5

These requirements are going to preclude undergraduates from publishing research, dont you 

agree? 

student 

research

Not at all, in fact it should encourage students to publish their work and get 

credit for it.