Embargoes and Federally Funded Research

Limiting the immediate access to content, embargoes are designed by publishers to ensure the economic sustainability of their business by requiring users to rely on the purchase of licensing agreements via subscription models. Comparatively, Open Access models which eliminate traditional pay-walls, are gaining prominence for immediate access and reduction of copyright barriers between readers and articles. Wishing to facilitate expanded access to scientific research, the White House sought to implement policy for the timely release of government funded research to the public. For proponents of Open Access, legislation by the House of Representatives in the FIRST Act imposed significant barriers to the public’s timely access of government funded research. Alongside rising subscription costs and increasing advocacy for Open Access, recent actions by the United States and European Union to reduce embargo periods for scientific research have brought to the forefront questions of properly defining the duration of embargoes for publicly funded research.