OSTP Investigates the Costs of Open Access Publishing

On November 22, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) published a report exploring the impact for covering the cost of openly publishing federally-funded research. The report outlines multiple challenges endured by federal grantees and intramural researchers, but estimates that in 2021 the cost was roughly $378 million.

Congress requested the report through its appropriations legislation for fiscal year (FY) 2023, citing concerns that some open access publishing financing mechanisms, particularly total article processing fees (APCs) and transformative agreements, may “present growing barriers to knowledge generation and sharing.” Congress asked OSTP to estimate how much of the costs of both APCs and transformative agreements were reinforced by federal grantees.

OSTP was clear that it is unable to offer an accurate estimate of the costs of transformative agreements, citing intricacies in how they are financed. The report builds on an economic analysis OSTP released in August 2022 alongside a directive that requires federally funded research publications to be free to read immediately upon publication, starting in 2026 (see previous COSSA coverage).