Librarians will play a key role in supporting a new era of academic publishing. Here’s how.

Just over a year ago, a federal memo put into motion a series of changes that will forever transform academic publishing.

The August 2022 Memo from Dr. Alondra Nelson of the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) advised all federal agencies to update their public access policies no later than Dec. 31, 2025, to ensure that any research supported with federal grant money is made freely available upon publication so that anyone, anywhere, can immediately access and use the research outcomes.

Previously, federal guidelines called for research funded by agencies with annual budgets of at least $100 million to be made openly available to anyone, free of charge. The Memo extends this policy to all federal agencies, regardless of their size.

The Memo has important, and far-reaching, implications for how universities and other institutions share their research findings with the public moving forward. While it will advance the future of open access publishing significantly, it also will impose many challenges on the academic community.

The administrative burdens that accompany the memo’s policy guidance “will likely be shouldered by individual researchers and their institutions,” says Boyana Konforti, Director of Strategic Initiatives for F1000.

Implications for researchers

Making research results openly accessible will require researchers to attach metadata and persistent identifiers to their research outcomes and papers, so these outputs can be discovered easily, says Andrew Bostjancic, US Open Research Policy Manager for academic publisher Taylor & Francis Group.

In addition, researchers—and the institutions that employ them—will need to think about how datasets and other research outcomes will be stored and managed.

“Researchers will need to create a data management plan,” Bostjancic says. “Their data can’t just sit in a spreadsheet. It will have to be made publicly available.” There could be significant costs involved in storing large datasets in perpetuity, he adds—and federal agencies should be prepared to include these costs in their grant awards.

Equity of access is another key consideration. In planning for how research results will be stored and disseminated, scholars and their institutions must ensure that all research publications and findings must be made available in formats that are broadly accessible to everyone.

The Nelson Memo affects humanities and social sciences departments as well as the scientific community, Konforti observes, as assets such as peer reviewed book chapters, editorials, and conference proceedings are subject to the Memo’s provisions as well.

“It’s a big lift from everyone’s perspective,” Bostjancic states.

How libraries can help

Academic libraries will play a pivotal role in implementing the memo’s goals. As the experts in storing, managing, and disseminating information for their institution, librarians are in a unique position to help faculty and research office personnel understand and fulfill open access publishing requirements.

For instance, “Librarians can help researchers manage data and metadata for maximum reuse at the beginning of the research cycle; advocate for open research policies and practices across the university; provide updates, resources, and tutorials on open research; and act as a convener to bring together and develop relationships between various university units, such as offices of research and computing,” Konforti says.

Because the specific policies governing how research results must be stored and disseminated will vary from one federal agency to another, it’s important for librarians to understand what types of research their university produces and the policies that govern these activities, Bostjancic says. Librarians, he adds, should make sure that the researchers at their institution know what kinds of resources are available through their library system to help them solve open access challenges.

Researchers will need tools as well as knowledge to help them meet open access publishing requirements. Open research publishing venues, like those offered by F1000, can help institutions comply with the goals outlined in the Nelson memo with minimal effort.

A Sept. 13 Library Journal webinar, sponsored by F1000, will explore in more detail how libraries can support researchers in publishing federally funded research outputs in compliance with the Nelson Memo. During the webinar, Konforti and Bostjancic will discuss what the Memo means for research institutions, as well as what librarians and their universities can do now to prepare for this momentous shift.

Learn more and register for this event.

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