I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1477 
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 
MARCH 19, 2015 
Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania (for himself, Mr. YODER, and Ms. 
LOFGREN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Oversight and Government 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 ‘‘Fair Access to Science 
and Technology Research Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) the Federal Government funds basic and 
applied research with the expectation that new ideas 
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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; 
(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; and 
(3) the United States has a substantial interest 
in maximizing the impact and utility of the research 
it funds by enabling a wide range of reuses of the 
peer-reviewed literature that reports the results of 
such research, including by enabling computational 
analysis by state-of-the-art technologies. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF FEDERAL AGENCY. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘Federal agency’’ means an Ex-
ecutive agency as defined under section 105 of title 5, 
United States Code. 
SEC. 4. FEDERAL RESEARCH PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY. 
(a) REQUIREMENT TO DEVELOP POLICY.— 
(1) 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 
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public access policy that is consistent with and ad-
vances the purposes of the Federal agency. 
(2) COMMON
PROCEDURES.—To the extent 
practicable, Federal agencies required to develop a 
policy under paragraph (1) shall follow common pro-
cedures for the collection and depositing of research 
papers. 
(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 
original research papers that have been accepted for 
publication in peer-reviewed journals and that result 
from research supported, in whole or in part, from 
funding 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; 
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(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) providing research papers as described in 
paragraph (4) in formats and under terms that en-
able productive reuse, including computational anal-
ysis by state-of-the-art technologies; 
(6) 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 
(7) 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 
(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— 
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(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 available at the same time such 
works are made available under subsection 
(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. 
(d) EXCLUSIONS.—Each Federal research public ac-
cess policy shall not apply to— 
(1) research progress reports presented at pro-
fessional meetings or conferences; 
(2) laboratory notes, preliminary data analyses, 
notes of the author, phone logs, or other information 
used to produce final manuscripts; 
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(3) classified research, research resulting in 
works that generate revenue or royalties for authors 
(such as books) or patentable discoveries, to the ex-
tent necessary to protect a copyright or patent; or 
(4) authors who do not submit their work to a 
journal or works that are rejected by journals. 
(e) PATENT OR COPYRIGHT LAW.—Nothing in this 
Act shall be construed to affect any right under the provi-
sions of title 17 or 35, United States Code. 
(f) REPORT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than October 1 of 
each year, the head of each Federal agency shall 
submit a report on the Federal research public ac-
cess policy of that agency to— 
(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 
(B) the Committee on Oversight and Gov-
ernment Reform of the House of Representa-
tives; 
(C) the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology of the House of Representatives; 
(D) the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate; 
(E) the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and 
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