Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act

Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act
Name	Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act
Introduced	2009
Enacted	(not enacted federally as standalone law)
Sponsors	John Conyers, Michael Capuano
Status	Proposed legislation

Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR) is proposed United States legislation intended to increase public access to peer-reviewed scholarly articles resulting from federally funded research. The bill has been introduced in multiple sessions of the United States Congress by members of the House of Representatives and discussed alongside initiatives by federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, academic organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and publishing entities including Elsevier and Springer Nature.

Background and legislative history

FASTR traces its roots to policy debates following the 2008 public release of the NIH Public Access Policy and earlier open access advocacy by groups such as the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition and the Public Library of Science. Initial versions were introduced in the 111th United States Congress by Representative John Conyers and Representative Michael Capuano, and later reintroduced in the 112th United States Congress, 113th United States Congress, and subsequent sessions by members including Rosa DeLauro and Martha Roby. Legislative discussion intersected with reports from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, court decisions involving Authors Guild and Google Books litigation, and recommendations from advisory bodies such as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Provisions and requirements

FASTR proposals typically would require federal agencies that fund extramural research to ensure that final peer-reviewed manuscripts or final published articles are deposited in publicly accessible repositories within a specified embargo period. Draft texts referenced policy design features developed in coordination with stakeholders like the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and NASA, and invoked standards promoted by the Open Archives Initiative and the Creative Commons licensing framework. Provisions outlined administrative responsibilities for agency chief information officers and program officers tied to budgetary authorities represented by committees such as the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Support, opposition, and stakeholder positions

Support for FASTR came from advocates including the Public Library of Science, the Association of Research Libraries, university systems represented by the University of California and the Ivy League, and research-intensive institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University. Endorsements also arrived from policy organizations such as the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University and the Center for Open Science. Opposition or qualified concern was voiced by commercial publishers such as Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, and Springer Nature, along with trade associations like the Association of American Publishers, citing impacts on subscription revenue models and peer-review funding for journals like Nature and Science (journal). Congressional offices including members of the House Committee on the Judiciary debated intellectual property implications, while professional societies such as the American Chemical Society and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers expressed nuanced positions regarding embargo lengths and licensing.

Implementation and compliance

Implementation strategies discussed in legislative and agency planning included use of centralized repositories such as PubMed Central, institutional repositories at universities like University of Michigan and systems like California Digital Library, and metadata standards promoted by the Dublin Core and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. Compliance mechanisms proposed involved grant terms administered by agencies like the National Science Foundation and compliance monitoring by offices analogous to the Office of Management and Budget and the Government Accountability Office. Practical considerations referenced mandates and workflows at publishers including PLOS and Oxford University Press, and operational models used by consortia such as CrossRef for DOI management.

Impact and analysis

Analyses by think tanks and academic groups, including studies from the Brookings Institution and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, evaluated expected effects on citation patterns observed in journals like PLoS ONE and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and on business models exemplified by subscription journals and open access journals. Economic assessments referenced funding agencies such as the European Research Council for comparative policy lessons and examined potential outcomes for stakeholders including researchers at Harvard Medical School, librarians at the New York Public Library, and publishers like Taylor & Francis. Empirical studies examined changes in article visibility, reuse in initiatives like Wikidata and Wikipedia, and downstream innovation measured in patents filed to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Related legislation and amendments

FASTR has been discussed alongside related legislative and policy actions including the America COMPETES Act, the Consolidated Appropriations Act provisions on public access, the OSTP Memorandum on Public Access to Federally Funded Research and agency-specific policies such as the NIH Public Access Policy and NSF Public Access Policy. Amendments considered parliamentary vehicles through committees such as the House Appropriations Committee and coordination with international frameworks like the Plan S initiative developed by cOAlition S.

Category:United States proposed federal legislation