reviewing Federal regulations affecting research and re-
search universities and making recommendations on how 
to— 
(1) harmonize, streamline, and eliminate dupli-
cative Federal regulations and reporting require-
ments; and 
(2) minimize the regulatory burden on United 
States institutions of higher education performing 
federally funded research while maintaining account-
ability for Federal tax dollars. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 3 
years, the Director shall report to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate on what steps have been 
taken to carry out the recommendations of the working 
group established under subsection (b). 
SEC. 303. PUBLIC ACCESS TO RESEARCH ARTICLES AND 
DATA. 
(a) PUBLIC ACCESS POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.— 
(1) PLAN.—Not later than 18 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the National Science 
and Technology Council shall deliver a plan to Con-
gress containing policies, procedures, and standards 
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for the Federal science agencies to enable archiving 
and retrieving covered material in digital form for 
public availability in perpetuity. The plan shall— 
(A) provide a data-driven justification for 
the plan, including the embargo periods set 
under subsections (c)(2)(A) and (e); 
(B) be developed in a transparent and 
open manner; 
(C) indicate what procedures were followed 
to ensure that this process of developing the 
plan allowed for the full consideration of all 
stakeholder concerns; and 
(D) draw on information developed under 
section 103 of the America COMPETES Reau-
thorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6623). 
(2) REQUIREMENTS.—Such policies, proce-
dures, and standards shall— 
(A) use existing information technology in-
frastructure to the extent practicable, including 
infrastructure of the National Center for Bio-
technology Information, the National Center for 
Atmospheric Research, and the private sector 
that facilitate public access to covered material; 
(B) minimize the cost of storing, archiving, 
and retrieving articles and data; and 
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(C) minimize the burden of providing arti-
cles and data archiving, and of retrieving arti-
cles and data. 
(3) STAKEHOLDER INPUT.—In developing poli-
cies, procedures, and standards under paragraph 
(1), the National Science and Technology Council 
shall use a transparent process for soliciting views 
from stakeholders, including federally funded re-
searchers, institutions of higher education, libraries, 
publishers, users of federally funded research re-
sults, and civil science society groups. 
(b) GRANT RECIPIENT REQUIREMENTS.—A recipient 
of a research grant made by a Federal science agency shall 
make, or enable others on their behalf to make, covered 
material associated with such grant available consistent 
with the policies, procedures, and standards established 
under subsection (a). 
(c) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY REQUIREMENTS.— 
In implementing the policies, procedures, and standards 
established pursuant to subsection (a), each Federal 
science agency shall provide for— 
(1) submission of, or linking to, an electronic 
version of covered material by or on behalf of recipi-
ents of research grants made by the agency; 
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(2) free online public access to such covered 
material— 
(A) in the case of a research article, con-
sistent with appropriate embargo periods but 
not later than 24 months after publication of 
the research article in a peer-reviewed publica-
tion; and 
(B) in the case of data used to support the 
findings and conclusions of such article, not 
later than 60 days after the article is published 
in a peer-reviewed publication; 
(3) implementation in a manner and format 
that enables and ensures full-text search, productive 
use, and long-term preservation; 
(4) production of an online bibliography of all 
research papers that are publicly accessible in its re-
pository, with each entry linking to the cor-
responding free online full text and supporting data; 
and 
(5) access to all data that is used directly or in-
directly by the agency to support the promulgation 
of a Federal regulation. 
(d) REVIEW.—At least once every 5 years, the Na-
tional Science and Technology Council shall review the 
policies, procedures, and standards established under sub-
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section (a) and revise such policies, procedures, and stand-
ards as appropriate. 
(e) EXTENSION.—Each Federal science agency may 
extend the time period specified in subsection (c)(2)(A) 
by 6 to 12 months, in consultation with the stakeholders 
described in subsection (a)(3), if the agency head, or des-
ignee, determines that the scientific field and stakeholders 
described in subsection (a)(3) will be uniquely harmed 
without such extension. 
(f) PATENT OR COPYRIGHT LAW.—Except as pro-
vided in this section, nothing in this section shall be con-
strued to affect any right under the provisions of title 17 
or title 35, United States Code. 
(g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
(1) COVERED MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘covered 
material’’ means— 
(A) a manuscript of an article accepted for 
publication in a peer-reviewed publication that 
results from research funded by a grant from a 
Federal science agency; and 
(B) data that was used to support the 
findings and conclusions of such article, except 
for data that is protected from disclosure under 
section 552 of title 5, United States Code. 
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