H.R. 3427 / S. 1701, the bipartisan Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), will accelerate scientific discovery and fuel innovation by making articles reporting on publicly funded scientific research freely accessible online for anyone to read and build upon. FASTR was introduced in the US House of Representatives on July 26, 2017, co-sponsored by Representatives Kevin Yoder (R-KS-3), Mike Doyle (D-PA-14), and Zoe Lofgren, (D-CA-19), and in the Senate on August 2, 2017, by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
The Senate version, S. 1701, incorporates changes made to the text before the bill passed unanimously out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in the 114th Congress. The primary difference is that the Senate bill extends the maximum allowable embargo period from six to twelve months.
Background
Every year, the federal government funds over sixty billion dollars in basic and applied research, and most of this funding is concentrated within 11 departments/agencies. This research results in a significant number of articles being published each year – approximately 100,000 papers are published annually as result of NIH funding alone.
Because U.S. taxpayers underwrite this research, they have a right to expect that its dissemination and use will be maximized, and that they will have access to articles reporting on the results. The Internet has revolutionized information sharing and has made it possible to make the latest advances freely available to every researcher, student, teacher, entrepreneur, business owner and citizen so that the results can be read and built upon as efficiently as possible.
FASTR would require those agencies with annual extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to provide the public with online access to research manuscripts stemming from such funding no later than twelve months after publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The bill gives individual agencies flexibility in choosing the location of the digital repository to house this content, as long as the repositories meet conditions for public accessibility and productive reuse of digital articles, and have provisions for interoperability and long-term archiving.
The bill specifically covers unclassified research funded by the following agencies: Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation.
FASTR reflects the growing trend among funding agencies – and college and university campuses – to leverage their investment in the conduct of research by maximizing the dissemination of results. It follows the successful path forged by the NIH’s Public Access Policy, as well as the growing trend in adoption of similar policies by international funders, private funders and dozens of U.S. higher-education institutions.
FASTR will make these articles freely available for all potential users to read and ensure that articles can be fully used in the digital environment, enabling the use of new computational analysis tools that promise to revolutionize the research process.
In the 114th Congress, the work on FASTR (S. 779/H.R. 1477) was led by Senators Cornyn (R-TX) and Wyden (D-OR) and Representatives Doyle (D-PA), Yoder (R-KS), and Lofgren (D-CA). The bill, as amended, was passed by unanimous voice vote through the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The Committee issued its required report on March 8, 2016.
