The purpose of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID’s) Public Access Plan (“the Plan”) is to increase public access to the results of the research it funds in response to an Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Memorandum dated February 22, 2013 (the “February 2013 memo”). The memo directs Federal departments and agencies with an annual Research and Development (R&D) expenditure of more than $100 million to develop a plan to increase public access to the results of federally funded research. This Plan will guide the development of agency procedures and policies to achieve this objective. It will make USAID-funded research products available and accessible to the public, industry, and scientific community. These research products include peer-reviewed research publications, datasets, and other supporting artifacts. Through greater access to these products, USAID will maximize its return on investment in research2 and will expedite evidence-based policy making in support of its mission. USAID’s Public Access Plan is designed to promote the following objectives:

• Establish USAID’s commitment to increase public access to results of scientific research;
• Support best practices for managing scholarly publications and scientific research data to achieve broad based development objectives; and
• Preserve and increase the use of research results to enhance scientific discovery in support of USAID’s development objectives.

The February 2013 memo covers two distinct areas: digital research data and peer-reviewed publications. USAID’s Plan uses an integrated approach to increase public access to peer-reviewed publications and research data (see Section 4. Overview of USAID’s Public Access Plan).

Readers may direct any questions to researchpolicy@usaid.gov.