Legal Pathways to Open Access is a joint project of Authors Alliance and SPARC to study critical issues in access to scholarly research. Among the goals of the year-long project are a series of white papers addressing Federal public access policy, updating the SPARC Author Addendum, and studying and making recommendations on institutional intellectual property policies. This page will host the white papers, supporting documents, and other resources generated by and related to the project.
White papers
I. Open Access and U.S. Federal Information Policy.
This paper is a study of the Federal Purpose License (FPL) within the larger context of Federal public access mandates and especially the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy memo of August 25, 2022 (the “Nelson Memo”). The paper provides general background on copyright and open access, and then analyzes the language, regulatory history, and purpose of the FPL.
Suggested citation: Eric Harbeson, Authors Alliance and SPARC, Open Access and U.S. Federal Information Policy, Legal Pathways to Open Access white paper no. 1 (2024). https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5020096
The paper: PDF (SSRN) • HTML
Appendix A: Text of 2 C.F.R. § 200.315 (see also the version of record)
Appendix B: Agency implementations of 2 C.F.R. § 200.315(b)
Future white papers
Three more white papers are planned. They will be posted here as they are released. Watch our blog for announcements!
External resources
Federal Purpose License fact sheet (HELIOS)