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Generally, federally funded peer-reviewed research publications must be made publicly available without an embargo under agency policies being updated for the 2026 shift—but there is no single start date or workflow for every agency and award. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) set December 31, 2025, as the deadline for agencies to update their public-access policies. Agencies determine their own effective dates and implementation details.
What the 2026 federal open-access policy means
The policy stems from an August 25, 2022 memorandum from OSTP. It asks federal agencies to make peer-reviewed scholarly publications resulting from federally funded research freely accessible by default in agency-designated repositories, with no embargo or delay after publication. The deadline in the memorandum is for agencies to update their policies; “from 2026” is shorthand for the change after that deadline, not a universal effective date for every grant or paper. OSTP’s memorandum sets the government-wide direction, while agencies publish the rules researchers must follow.
The requirement concerns public access, not a mandate that journals use a particular publishing business model. A journal may still publish an article under its usual terms while the agency requires a version to be deposited in a repository. The applicable agency policy specifies where and when to deposit the work and what use and reuse rights apply. OSTP said more than 8 million scholarly publications had become publicly accessible under the earlier policy and that over 3 million people read those articles for free each day. Those are figures reported in the 2022 memorandum.
Which papers and research outputs are covered?
Peer-reviewed publications
The memorandum covers peer-reviewed scholarly publications authored or co-authored by people or institutions as a result of federally funded research. Examples include peer-reviewed journal articles and final manuscripts. Depending on agency policy, the scope may also include peer-reviewed book chapters, editorials, and conference proceedings. Check the rules for the specific funding agency and award rather than assuming every output is treated identically.
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Underlying scientific data
Scientific data underlying peer-reviewed publications are also intended to be publicly accessible by default at publication. Agencies are expected to develop approaches and timelines for other federally funded scientific data as well. Data access is subject to legal, privacy, ethical, intellectual-property, technical, and security limits; the policy does not require sensitive or protected information to be released without safeguards. Agencies may use risk-mitigated access where appropriate. The OSTP memorandum directs agencies to address these limits in implementation.
When does the policy start for NIH and IES?
Agency rules can take effect before 2026 or use implementation periods that span fiscal years. These examples illustrate why researchers should check their agency’s own policy and award terms.
NIH: manuscripts accepted from July 1, 2025
The National Institutes of Health says its 2024 Public Access Policy applies to manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025, and aligns with the OSTP memorandum. The NIH policy date is based on manuscript acceptance, so researchers should not substitute the 2026 shorthand for the date NIH specifies. NIH also reports that more than 1.4 million articles reporting on NIH-supported research were freely available in PubMed Central under its 2008 policy; its page does not state the measurement year for that count. See NIH’s policy page for its requirements and updates.
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The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) says it is implementing its plan across fiscal years 2025 and 2026. IES states that publications from federally funded work will be free immediately after publication. Its data-sharing rule requires data to be shared at publication or, if the work is unpublished, five years after the award ends, whichever comes first. For awardees receiving funds after October 1, 2024, IES also requires a full-text article to be uploaded to ERIC immediately upon publication. These are IES-specific requirements, not government-wide deadlines. Consult the IES plan for details.
How to find your deposit rule
There is no single repository or deposit procedure for every federally funded paper. Use the agency’s current policy and the terms of your award to identify the relevant requirements. Compare these details before submitting or depositing a manuscript:
- Covered funding: Which award, funding date, or recipient category brings the work under the policy?
- Trigger date: Does the rule depend on publication, manuscript acceptance, award date, or another event?
- Repository and workflow: Which agency-designated repository must receive the manuscript, and who is responsible for the deposit?
- Output type: Does the requirement cover the publication, underlying data, or both?
- Access and reuse: When must the material become available, and what reuse rights or restrictions apply?
- Exceptions: What legal, privacy, ethical, intellectual-property, or security protections apply to the work or data?
For NIH-supported work, start with NIH’s public-access policy; for IES-supported work, use the IES plan and its ERIC instructions. For another agency, follow that agency’s published plan and ask its program or research-administration contact how the policy applies to your award. Do not assume that a journal’s open-access option alone satisfies a repository deposit requirement.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is every agency ready, and what could publication cost?
Implementation was still uneven in the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s May 2026 review of nine agencies. Seven had issued updated plans or policies, while the Department of Transportation and Nuclear Regulatory Commission were still drafting theirs. GAO found that five of the reviewed plans or policies fully met OSTP guidance, identified reuse-rights issues in the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Agriculture plans, and made 11 recommendations to nine agencies. This is a review of nine agencies at that time, not a real-time census of every federal agency. Read GAO’s May 21, 2026 report.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Open access can also raise publishing and data-management costs. OSTP says agencies should allow researchers to include reasonable publication, submission, data-curation, and data-management costs in funding proposals, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget. GAO estimated that publication charges could cost the government up to $1 billion per year; this is a potential-cost estimate, not a measured bill or guaranteed spending outcome. GAO also reported that most agencies were not ready for the costs. Stakeholders interviewed by GAO raised concerns that pay-to-publish models could encourage lower publication standards; that is a reported concern, not an established causal finding. GAO discusses the cost and implementation concerns in its report.
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