Nelson Memo
On August 25, 2022, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a memorandum from Dr. Alondra Nelson, on Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research, commonly referred to as the Nelson Memo.
The Nelson Memo ensures free, immediate, and equitable access to federally funded research. It builds on the guidance from 2013’s Expanding Public Access to the Results of Federally Funded Research from Dr. John Holdren (the Holdren Memo) with the following changes:
- Federal grant agencies must provide immediate public access to both peer-reviewed scholarly publications and underlying research data (no longer permitting a year embargo as the Holdren memo did)
- All federal grant agencies must comply with the memo’s provisions (expanding from Holdren Memo which only covered agencies with $100 million + budgets)
FAQ
Yes, the new public access requirements under the Nelson Memo will impact your projects now. For example, NIH moved their compliance date to July 1, 2025, and the Department of Energy's full compliance date is October 1, 2025. Existing contracts may have already been renegotiated to include the new requirements. We recommend working with your agency contact to receive the information most relevant to your grant or contract.
All federal agencies that fund research and development must comply with Nelson Memo mandates. This means that all new contracts will incorporate immediate public access requirements, and existing contracts may be renegotiated to include them. SPARC maintains Publication Sharing Policies and Data Sharing Policies trackers that provide a single place to compare public access policies of different federal agencies. We recommend working with your agency contact to receive the information most relevant to your grant or contract.
Under the Nelson Memo, an accepted manuscript or the final published version must be immediately accessible without an embargo. The data that underlies that publication must also be made available immediately.
No. You will not be required to make public items that have privacy and security restrictions. The federal agencies are aware this is an issue for some research areas and will provide further guidance.
UND has several campus units that can assist you with questions around the Nelson memo and its impact on your research.
For a full list, please check Contacts and Other Resources.