Federal Public Access Policies

The Department of Defense (DoD) plan for public access to federally funded research governs scientific data and peer reviewed publications which arise as a result of DoD-funded research. The plan mandates that these research outputs must be made publicly available in a timely manner without delay; scholarly publications in particular must be made available without embargo by the date of publication.

This plan goes into effect on December 31, 2025.

When does this go into effect?

Dataset requirements associated with the DoD public access plan go into effect on December 31, 2025.

Who does this apply to?

Researchers funded by the DoD whose work creates scientific data. Scientific data is defined as “the recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as of sufficient quality to validate and replicate research findings” (DoD Implementation Plan, pg. 11).

What is required?

• A Data Management Plan that describes which data will be preserved, where it will be stored, and whether the data will be accessible to the public.
• For scientific data underlying peer-reviewed scholarly publications, data must be publicly available by default at the time of publication (consistent with law, regulation, and DoD policy).
• For scientific data not associated with peer-reviewed scholarly publications, extramural researchers will be required to store data sets underlying or resulting from DoD-funded research in digital repositories. DoD will issue guidance for selection of repositories based on NTSC recommendations. They do not currently list a timeline for when the data must be made publicly available.
• If the scientific data is protected by privacy, confidentiality, security, intellectual property, or other rights or requirements, the Data Management Plan must include a statement that the data cannot be made public. Classified and controlled unclassified information cannot be made publicly available.

How to comply

• Write a Data Management Plan that meets the DoD’s requirements upon application for a grant. The recommended Data Management Plan format can be found in Enclosure 3, Section 3, of DoD Instruction 3200.12.
• Make your data publicly available by the time of publication.

When does this go into effect?

Publication requirements associated with the DoD public access plan go into effect on December 31, 2025.

Who does this apply to?

Researchers for whom DoD-funded work results in a peer reviewed publication.

What is required?

The researcher must deposit their final, peer reviewed manuscript (also known as an Author Accepted Manuscript) in a DoD-designated repository to be made publicly available by the date of publication.

How to comply

Researchers should deposit final, peer reviewed manuscripts (Author Accepted Manuscripts) into the DoD-designated repository. DoD’s repository for peer reviewed manuscripts has historically been the public facing web-based tool Defense Technical Information Cener (DTIC Public Access Search).

• Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research: Department of Defense Implementation Plan