The Right to Deposit - Statement

"With the forthcoming release of new federal agency public access plans as a result of the White House Office of Science and Technology Planning (OSTP) public access guidance (“the Nelson memo”), federally-funded authors will face new requirements to deposit their scholarly publications, without an embargo, in agency-designated public access repositories. These requirements will impact authors, their institutions, and especially the offices that deal with research funding and grant compliance. Libraries will continue to play a key role in advancing open access through multiple pathways and engaging authors in scholarly publishing and research data management.

For many authors this will be an entirely new requirement; for others, who were already required to deposit their articles within 12 months, this will mean a shorter timeline for compliance. Some authors may not realize they need to deposit their articles even if they publish open access. Other authors may understand the deposit requirement, but not how to balance obligations to their funder and their publisher when publishing in a subscription-based journal. In a worst-case scenario, authors who do not understand their grant requirements and the legal landscape may face negative enforcement actions from funders, disputes about copyrights or contracts, or roadblocks to publishing...."