NSF Guidance

This article provides information on the National Science Foundation’s public access plan and points to important guidance and resources to aid researchers in complying with the plan’s requirements.

Introduction

The National Science Foundation (NSF) will implement its updated Public Access Plan on January 1, 2025. The new plan, the Public Access Plan 2.0, includes additional requirements and clarification for the sharing of research articles and data resulting from NSF funded research projects.

NSF Public Access Plan 2.0

NSF Public Access Initiative

Frequently Asked Questions for Public Access

Upcoming Updates to Public Access Plan Requirements

Here are a few of the major changes coming in January 2025 for NSF funded awards.

• All peer-reviewed scholarly publications resulting from NSF awards must be made freely available and publicly accessibly be default in the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) without embargo or delay

• Scientific data associated with peer-reviewed publications resulting from NSF awards must be made available in appropriate data repositories

  • Exceptions to data sharing requirements will be made based on legal, privacy, ethical, intellectual property, and national security consideration

• Annual and final annual project reporting must include information on scientific data sharing activities

• Deposited datasets must include acknowledgement of NSF support, the award number and appropriate attribution to facilitate reporting and will be required to be submitted via DOI when deposited in NSF-PAR

• Costs for data management and sharing activities may be requested by proposers. Line G.2. of the proposal budget also may be used to request funding for data deposit and data curation costs.