Why is it called the Nelson Memo?
The memo was issued by Dr. Alondra Nelson, Director of the Office and Science and Technology (OSTP).
Public Access to Scholarly PublicationsAll peer-reviewed scholarly publications that result from federal funds should be freely accessible in public access repositories without an embargo immediately at publication.
Agency plans need to also address reuse rights and any restrictions, including attribution, that may apply
Public Access to Scientific Data All publication-associated scientific data shall be made freely available and publicly accessible immediately upon publication. Exceptions are to be made for data that fall under specific limitations (such as privacy and national security).
Metadata and Persistent Identifiers to Strengthen Research IntegrityTo strengthen the trust in federally-funded research, agencies should transparently communicate critical information associated with these data and publications such as authorship, funding, and affiliations.
As part of this commitment, agencies should collect and make available metadata associated with research outputs and implement the use of persistent identifiers (PIDs).
Federal agencies are required to update and publish their Public Access Policies no later than December 31, 2024. Subsequently, the policies must be implemented no later than December 31, 2025.
The Holdren Memo was the previous federal public access policy issued in 2013 by then OSTP Director John Holdren. The Association of Research Libraries created this excellent resource for comparing the policies between the two memos.