Guide for Authors Complying with U.S. Federal Agency Public Access and Publisher Policies - SPARC

"In response to the 2022 OSTP memo, U.S. federal agencies now require authors to deposit their manuscripts into agency repositories, often immediately upon acceptance by a journal. Agencies do not charge a fee for authors to deposit their manuscripts, making this an easy and cost-effective compliance option. However, in response to this new federal requirement, some journal publishers now require authors who receive U.S. federal funding to pay publishing fees. 

These fees have caused concern and confusion among researchers with federal funding. This places authors in a situation where they must carefully consider publisher policies and fee requirements before making the decision about where to publish their work. It is important to understand that many publishers freely allow manuscript deposit into repositories without imposing additional charges on federally funded authors.

However, many authors were not aware of these fees when they submitted their articles for publication and find themselves having to make decisions about what to do late in the publication process—sometimes after peer review has been completed or when their article is ready for final publication.

SPARC developed this guide to help authors consider potential actions they might take at different stages of the funding lifecycle, along with additional resources they might find helpful. Expand each section to learn more...."