At the end of May, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released "Core Principles for Communication of the Results of Scientific Research Conducted by Scientists Employed by Federal Civilian Agencies" [PDF]. The guidelines state, in part:
Research data produced by scientists working within Federal agencies should, to the maximum extent possible and consistent with existing Federal law, regulations, and Presidential directives and orders, be made publicly available consistent with established practices in the relevant fields of research.
1. Agencies should develop, and update as necessary, clear guidelines regarding processes for sharing research data and results generated by Federal scientists. These guidelines should be consistent with the Information Quality Act guidelines.
2. In developing the guidelines, agencies should endeavor to establish clear policies regarding preservation and storage of and access to publicly available data.
3. Agencies should work to ensure awareness of and compliance with these guidelines, and ensure that responses to requests for publicly releasable information are made promptly, accurately, and completely....
Peter Suber, in his June 27, 2008 Open Access News blog, offers many observations. Key excerpts:
Note two aspects of this subset:
1. The guidelines only apply to research by agency employees, not research by grantees. The distinction matters because under US law (17 USC 105), research by government employees is uncopyrightable.
2. The guidelines only apply to data, not texts. This distinction also matters because (most) data elements are uncopyrightable facts.
[...]
The guidelines apply to research funded by 15 named federal agencies: NASA, NSF, NIH, EPA, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Justice, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs. OSTP is asking all 15 agencies to develop policies in accordance with the guidelines and submit a progress report by July 31, 2008.
OSTP is calling for an open data mandate, but may or may not succeed in getting one. The statute requires OSTP to write the guidelines but it doesn't require the agencies to comply. It does ask the OSTP to "ensure" that the agencies adopt policies in conformity with its principles, but it's unclear what power OSTP has to do that. On the other hand, the agencies may comply voluntarily. Not only will they face little or no counter-lobbying from publishers, but the OSTP developed the guidelines in the first place "in consultation with...the heads of all Federal civilian agencies that conduct scientific research" (COMPETES Act, Section 1009).