I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5037 
To provide for Federal agencies to develop public access policies relating 
to research conducted by employees of that agency or from funds admin-
istered by that agency. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 15, 2010 
Mr. DOYLE (for himself, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. BOUCHER, Ms. WASSERMAN 
SCHULTZ, Mr. ROHRABACHER, and Mr. HARPER) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Gov-
ernment Reform 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Research Pub-
lic Access Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
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(1) the Federal Government funds basic and 
applied research with the expectation that new ideas 
and discoveries that result from the research, if 
shared and effectively disseminated, will advance 
science and improve the lives and welfare of people 
of the United States and around the world; and 
(2) the Internet makes it possible for this infor-
mation to be promptly available to every scientist, 
physician, educator, and citizen at home, in school, 
or in a library. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITION. 
In this Act the term ‘‘Federal agency’’ means an Ex-
ecutive agency defined under section 105 of title 5, United 
States Code. 
SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, each Federal agency with 
extramural research expenditures of over $100,000,000 
shall develop a Federal research public access policy that 
is consistent with and advances purposes of the Federal 
agency. 
(b) CONTENT.—Each Federal research public access 
policy shall provide for— 
(1) submission to the Federal agency of an elec-
tronic version of the author’s final manuscript of 
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original research papers that have been accepted for 
publication in peer-reviewed journals and result from 
research supported, in whole or in part, from fund-
ing by the Federal Government; 
(2) the incorporation of all changes resulting 
from the peer review publication process in the 
manuscript described under paragraph (1); 
(3) the replacement of the final manuscript 
with the final published version if— 
(A) the publisher consents to the replace-
ment; and 
(B) the goals of the Federal agency for 
functionality and interoperability are retained; 
(4) free online public access to such final peer- 
reviewed manuscripts or published versions as soon 
as practicable, but not later than 6 months after 
publication in peer-reviewed journals; 
(5) production of an online bibliography of all 
research papers that are publicly accessible under 
the policy, with each entry linking to the cor-
responding free online full text; and 
(6) long-term preservation of, and free public 
access to, published research findings— 
(A) in a stable digital repository main-
tained by the Federal agency; or 
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(B) if consistent with the purposes of the 
Federal agency, in any repository meeting con-
ditions determined favorable by the Federal 
agency, including free public access, interoper-
ability, and long-term preservation. 
(c) APPLICATION
OF POLICY.—Each Federal re-
search public access policy shall— 
(1) apply to— 
(A) researchers employed by the Federal 
agency whose works remain in the public do-
main; and 
(B) researchers funded by the Federal 
agency; 
(2) provide that works described under para-
graph (1)(A) shall be— 
(A) marked as being public domain mate-
rial when published; and 
(B) made immediately available under sub-
section (b)(4); and 
(3) make effective use of any law or guidance 
relating to the creation and reservation of a Govern-
ment license that provides for the reproduction, pub-
lication, release, or other uses of a final manuscript 
for Federal purposes. 
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