Definition · Plain-language
OSTP Nelson memo
The OSTP Nelson memo is the 2022 White House guidance directing federal agencies to make the publications and data from federally funded research freely and immediately available.
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What the memo directs
Issued in August 2022 and signed by then-acting OSTP director Alondra Nelson, the memorandum instructs all federal agencies that fund research to develop policies making the resulting peer-reviewed publications freely available in agency-designated repositories immediately on publication, with no embargo. It extends the same principle to the scientific data underlying those publications, and asks agencies to ensure equitable access and proper persistent identification of outputs.
What changed from 2013
The Nelson memo updates the 2013 OSTP memorandum (the Holdren memo), which had required public access but permitted agencies to allow up to a twelve-month embargo before papers became free. The central change is the elimination of that optional delay: federally funded papers must be made immediately available. It also broadened the requirement to apply across all funding agencies, not only the largest ones covered by the earlier guidance.
How agencies implement it
The memo is guidance to agencies, which each translate it into their own binding policies — for example NIH’s updated Public Access Policy. Agencies set the designated repository, the version to be deposited, data-sharing expectations and compliance mechanisms, with implementation expected by the end of 2025. The memo therefore sits one level above any single policy: it is the cross-government direction that individual agency rules operationalise.
Key facts
At a glance
- Definition: 2022 OSTP guidance on free access to funded research
- Title: "Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access…"
- Issued by: White House OSTP (Alondra Nelson), August 2022
- Requires: free access to publications and data, no embargo
- Updates: the 2013 Holdren memo (which allowed 12-month delay)
- Deadline: agency implementation by end of 2025
Common misconceptions
What people often get wrong
Often heard: The Nelson memo is itself a binding law applicants must follow.
Actually: The memo is executive-branch guidance directing agencies; researchers comply with the specific agency policies, such as NIH’s, that implement it.
Often heard: It only covers publications, not data.
Actually: The memo also addresses the scientific data underlying publications, directing agencies to improve access to that data alongside the papers.
Often heard: It kept the 12-month embargo from the 2013 policy.
Actually: The defining change is the removal of the optional 12-month embargo; the memo requires immediate, free access on publication.
Going deeper
