Open access

The White House has ordered that by 2026 certain articles and data resulting from federally funded research should be freely available upon publication, but many questions remain about how the policy will be implemented.

A Trump administration rule requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to give less weight to certain scientific studies was voided last week after Biden’s EPA declined to defend it in court.

Responses to the White House’s request for input on options for increasing public access to research outputs run the gamut from denouncing the prospect of government intervention in the publishing sector to calling for a new paradigm that offers immediate free access to papers.

With word of a potential open access executive order reverberating across the scientific community, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is seeking further stakeholder input as it moves to increase public access to research results.

FYI presents its annual list of 10 science policy stories to watch in the year ahead.

Scientific societies and commercial journal publishers are urging President Trump to abandon a potential executive order that would mandate immediate free release of publications resulting from federally sponsored research.

In a bid to regain global leadership in weather forecasting, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is establishing an Earth Prediction Innovation Center to address longstanding challenges in translating research advances into operational forecasts.

With EPA planning to finalize a controversial science transparency rule this year, the agency’s Science Advisory Board has decided to undertake an expedited review of the measure. The proposed rule would restrict the agency from basing new regulations on scientific studies whose underlying data are not publicly available.

In a recent interview with FYI, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier weighed in on pressing issues ranging from Europe’s open access push to the National Security Council's proposed climate science review panel.

European funders are forcing the issue on open-access publishing, while the Trump administration reviews U.S. policies on disseminating federally sponsored research.