Weekly digest: White House mandate, GPP 2022, open access for PhD students

Luke Bratton

This week we read about the new White House guidance for open access to taxpayer-funded research, and the possible implications of this mandate for publishers. We look at the new GPP 2022 guidelines for company-sponsored research, and we share a helpful free guide to open science for PhD students.

To read:

The White House mandates immediate public access for federally funded research via The White House | 3-minute read

The White House Office of Science and Technology last week announced that by 31 December 2025, any federal agencies with research and development expenditures must ensure that their publications and supporting data are made publicly accessible immediately on publication. This policy update will ensure that all US taxpayer-funded research will become accessible to everyone without an embargo or cost.

White House public access mandate: the implications for scholarly publishing via Science Insider | 7-minute read

Prior to the White House policy update, research conducted using taxpayer funding was permitted to be held behind a paywall for up to a year. Crucially, the new requirement for immediate public access is not an outright mandate for research to appear in pay-to-publish open access journals, so there may be some degree of interpretation regarding what type of publishing format meets the new requirements. For example, authors may be allowed to publish in subscription journals while also making a version of their manuscript freely available in an institutional repository. Nonetheless, with the number of US government-funded studies reaching approximately a quarter of a million per year, this new policy will likely bring heavy implications for publisher funding models.

Transparency in the Good Publication Practice 2022 guidelines via ISMPP | 12-minute read

The Good Publication Practice (GPP) guidelines for company-sponsored medical research have been updated for 2022. Updates since the GPP3 guidelines published in 2015 include the recommendations that free-to-access options for publications should be used whenever possible and that publications should be made available in accessible formats for wider audiences, such as through plain language summaries. On 21 September 2022, ISMPP U will be hosting a 90-minute webinar discussing the process of creating the GPP 2022 guidelines, and a multi-disciplinary discussion of the new guidelines will take place at ISMPP West on 27 September 2022.

A guide to open science for PhD students via UCL | 1-hour read

The UCL Office for Open Science and Scholarship team have published a free guide to open science for PhD students. The 38-page online publication, originally designed by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, is intended to accompany PhD students throughout their research. Topics include embracing open science principles, disseminating research publications open access and preparing for a career in science.

To engage with:

Help with the Plan S impact survey via cOAlition S | 2-minutes to complete

In May this year, cOAlition S launched the Plan S impact survey to assess the impact of Plan S on publishing practices and experiences and its perceived impact on career progression for those choosing to publish open access. The survey data will be used to understand the impact of Plan S publishing practices and how to support researchers moving forward. The survey is still accessible here for those interested in taking part.

Have you heard about the Open Pharma Satellite Symposium at the 2022 Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers Annual Conference and Awards? Check the programme and register here to secure a place.