The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a notice on June 30 seeking public comments on a draft plan to make scientific data and publications more readily available to the public.
The draft plan follows through on the Biden Administration’s August 2022 directive to make the results of taxpayer-supported research available to the American public free of charge.
“The NIST Public Access Plan applies to the results of research funded wholly or in part by NIST, presented in peer-reviewed scholarly publications and as research data,” NIST said.
NIST is looking for comment on the following areas.
- How can NIST ensure equity in publication opportunities;
- How can NIST ensure public access and accessibility to outputs of NIST-funded research;
- How can NIST monitor impacts on affected communities – authors and readers alike; and
- How can NIST improve the plan to provide greater public access to NIST-funded research results.
NIST’s plan to make information more accessible to the public comes at the same time as the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) announced its plans last week to pursue the same goals with DoE-funded research.
Comments on the new plan are due by August 14.
