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2019 Open Access Week: USGS Public Access Plan

October 22, 2019

Did you know that USGS has a Public Access Plan concerning published works? This website provides an overview on how to release or publish USGS scientific data. This includes information on best practices (e.g., file formats for data) and checklists for before and after a data review.

Did you know that USGS has a Public Access Plan concerning published works? This website provides an overview on how to release or publish USGS scientific data. This includes information on best practices (e.g., file formats for data) and checklists for before and after a data review.

Here are some key elements of the new plan:

  • For journal publications all accepted manuscripts must be deposited in the internal USGS Information Product Data System (IPDS) repository which serves as a dark archive.
  • Journal articles are released from the outside publisher or the USGS IPDS dark archive and made available free-of-charge from the USGS Publications Warehouse no later than 12 months after publication.
  • USGS authors are not obligated to pay journals to provide free public access to journal articles unless the author requires free public access be provided by the outside publisher before the 12-month period.
  • The USGS will provide a mechanism, via the USGS Publications Warehouse, for accepting petitions for changes to the 12-month period and a decision for a reduced embargo period for a specific journal publication will be made based on need.

(These requirements apply to outside publications as well as USGS series publications.  A copy of the Public Access Plan in its entirety can be found here: https://d9-wret.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/atoms/files/USGS-PublicAccessPlan-APPROVED-v1-03.pdf)

For more information on 2019 OA Week (October 21 to 27), see http://openaccessweek.ning.com/.

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