Scientific Research

Public Access to EPA’s Scientific Research

EPA has a well-known pledge to make the results of EPA-funded research available to the public. EPA issued its first Plan to Increase Access to Results of EPA-Funded Scientific Research (pdf) (4.67 MB, June 2018)  in November 2016. Since that time, EPA has met this goal by working to ensure the public has access to the results of federally funded peer-reviewed, scientific research papers and research data.

In 2023, EPA updated its public access plan to address new provisions outlined in a 2022 Office of Science and Technology Policy memorandum. These updates are detailed in the Update to EPA's Plan to Increase Access to Results of EPA-Funded Scientific Research (pdf) (249.59 KB, December 31, 2024) . This document builds on the existing 2016 plan to further strengthen the agency’s public access efforts while recognizing and acknowledging the successes already achieve by EPA in this area. It also outlines the steps EPA will take to implement the new provisions in the 2022 OSTP memo, such as removing the 12 month publication embargo and strengthening guidance on data sharing.

EPA has created a repository at PubMed Central to provide access to the agency’s scientific texts. The agency has also worked with Data.gov to provide access to the data underlying these publications. Plus, to maximize public access while protecting private information, EPA has made selected data available in a secure data enclave. Learn more about the first available secure datasets used to support these controlled information research studies.

Open Science Policy

These policies relate to the publishing of research and linked data at EPA and across the federal government. EPA Order 1000.17B was updated on January 2, 2025, to reflect new public access provisions outlined in EPA’s Public Access Plan Update. The requirements in the updated Order will be effective once EPA finalizes terms and conditions reflecting the new Order.