II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 779 

To provide for Federal agencies to develop public access policies relating 

to research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds administered by that agency. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 18, 2015 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide for Federal agencies to develop public access 

policies relating to research conducted by employees of 

that agency or from funds administered by that agency. 

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 ‘‘Fair Access to Science 

5 and Technology Research Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the Federal Government funds basic and 

9 applied research with the expectation that new ideas 


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1 and discoveries that result from the research, if 

2 shared and effectively disseminated, will advance 

3 science and improve the lives and welfare of people 

4 of the United States and around the world; 

5 (2) the Internet makes it possible for this infor6 mation to be promptly available to every scientist, 

7 physician, educator, and citizen at home, in school, 

8 or in a library; and 

9 (3) the United States has a substantial interest 

10 in maximizing the impact and utility of the research 

11 it funds by enabling a wide range of reuses of the 

12 peer-reviewed literature that reports the results of 

13 such research, including by enabling computational 

14 analysis by state-of-the-art technologies. 

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF FEDERAL AGENCY. 

16 In this Act, the term ‘‘Federal agency’’ means an Ex17 ecutive agency, as defined under section 105 of title 5, 

18 United States Code. 

19 SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY. 

20 (a) REQUIREMENT TO DEVELOP POLICY.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

22 the date of enactment of this Act, each Federal 

23 agency with extramural research expenditures of 

24 over $100,000,000 shall develop a Federal research 


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1 public access policy that is consistent with and ad2 vances the purposes of the Federal agency. 

3 (2) COMMON PROCEDURES.—To the extent 

4 practicable, Federal agencies required to develop a 

5 policy under paragraph (1) shall follow common pro6 cedures for the collection and depositing of research 

7 papers. 

8 (b) CONTENT.—Each Federal research public access 

9 policy shall provide for— 

10 (1) submission to the Federal agency of an elec11 tronic version of the author’s final manuscript of 

12 original research papers that have been accepted for 

13 publication in peer-reviewed journals and that result 

14 from research supported, in whole or in part, from 

15 funding by the Federal Government; 

16 (2) the incorporation of all changes resulting 

17 from the peer review publication process in the 

18 manuscript described under paragraph (1); 

19 (3) the replacement of the final manuscript 

20 with the final published version if— 

21 (A) the publisher consents to the replace22 ment; and 

23 (B) the goals of the Federal agency for 

24 functionality and interoperability are retained; 


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1 (4) free online public access to such final peer2 reviewed manuscripts or published versions as soon 

3 as practicable, but not later than 6 months after 

4 publication in peer-reviewed journals; 

5 (5) providing research papers as described in 

6 paragraph (4) in formats and under terms that en7 able productive reuse, including computational anal8 ysis by state-of-the-art technologies; 

9 (6) production of an online bibliography of all 

10 research papers that are publicly accessible under 

11 the policy, with each entry linking to the cor12 responding free online full text; and 

13 (7) long-term preservation of, and free public 

14 access to, published research findings— 

15 (A) in a stable digital repository main16 tained by the Federal agency; or 

17 (B) if consistent with the purposes of the 

18 Federal agency, in any repository meeting con19 ditions determined favorable by the Federal 

20 agency, including free public access, interoper21 ability, and long-term preservation. 

22 (c) APPLICATION OF POLICY.—Each Federal re23 search public access policy shall— 

24 (1) apply to— 


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1 (A) researchers employed by the Federal 

2 agency whose works remain in the public do3 main; and 

4 (B) researchers funded by the Federal 

5 agency; 

6 (2) provide that works described under para7 graph (1)(A) shall be— 

8 (A) marked as being public domain mate9 rial when published; and 

10 (B) made available at the same time such 

11 works are made available under subsection 

12 (b)(4); and 

13 (3) make effective use of any law or guidance 

14 relating to the creation and reservation of a Govern15 ment license that provides for the reproduction, pub16 lication, release, or other uses of a final manuscript 

17 for Federal purposes. 

18 (d) EXCLUSIONS.—Each Federal research public ac19 cess policy shall not apply to— 

20 (1) research progress reports presented at pro21 fessional meetings or conferences; 

22 (2) laboratory notes, preliminary data analyses, 

23 notes of the author, phone logs, or other information 

24 used to produce final manuscripts; 


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1 (3) classified research, research resulting in 

2 works that generate revenue or royalties for authors 

3 (such as books) or patentable discoveries, to the ex4 tent necessary to protect a copyright or patent; or 

5 (4) authors who do not submit their work to a 

6 journal or works that are rejected by journals. 

7 (e) PATENT OR COPYRIGHT LAW.—Nothing in this 

8 Act shall be construed to affect any right under the provi9 sions of title 17 or 35, United States Code. 

10 (f) REPORT.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than October 1 of 

12 each year, the head of each Federal agency shall 

13 submit a report on the Federal research public ac14 cess policy of that Federal agency to— 

15 (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 

16 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 

17 (B) the Committee on Oversight and Gov18 ernment Reform of the House of Representa19 tives; 

20 (C) the Committee on Science and Tech21 nology of the House of Representatives; 

22 (D) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

23 and Transportation of the Senate; 

24 (E) the Committee on Health, Education, 

25 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and 


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1 (F) any other committee of Congress of 

2 appropriate jurisdiction. 

3 (2) CONTENT.—Each report under this sub4 section shall include— 

5 (A) a statement of the effectiveness of the 

6 Federal research public access policy in pro7 viding the public with free online access to pa8 pers on research funded by the Federal agency; 

9 (B) the results of a study by the Federal 

10 agency of the terms of use applicable to the re11 search papers described in subsection (b)(4), in12 cluding— 

13 (i) a statement of whether the terms 

14 of use applicable to such research papers 

15 are effective in enabling productive reuse 

16 and computational analysis by state-of-the17 art technologies; and 

18 (ii) an examination of whether such 

19 research papers should include a royalty20 free copyright license that is available to 

21 the public and that permits the reuse of 

22 those research papers, on the condition 

23 that attribution is given to the author or 

24 authors of the research and any others 

25 designated by the copyright owner; 


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1 (C) a list of papers published in peer-re2 viewed journals that report on research funded 

3 by the Federal agency; 

4 (D) a corresponding list of papers made 

5 available by the Federal agency as a result of 

6 the Federal research public access policy; and 

7 (E) a summary of the periods of time be8 tween public availability of each paper in a 

9 journal and in the online repository of the Fed10 eral agency. 

11 (3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—A Federal agency 

12 shall make the statement under paragraph (2)(A) 

13 and the lists of papers under subparagraphs (B) and 

14 (C) of paragraph (2) available to the public by post15 ing such statement and lists on the website of the 

16 Federal agency. 

Æ 


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