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Public Access Toolkit

The public access toolkit provides guidance to researchers who receive funding from U.S. federal agencies and must comply with public access mandates.

What is Public Access?

The current specifications require that the following research outputs be made publicly and freely accessible by default in agency-designated repositories:

  • All peer-reviewed scholarly publications authored by individuals resulting from federally funded research without any embargo or delay after publication.
  • Scientific data underlying peer-reviewed scholarly publications resulting from federally funded research at the time of publication with exceptions to security, confidentiality, and intellectual property.

What does it mean to make your work publicly accessible?