Transportation Library Quick Guide: Copyright and Open Access: Public Access to Research Results

Public access generally refers to the requirement that the results of federally funded research, including relevant research data, be freely available and accessible to the public. This requirement was established through a 2013 White House memorandum.

All federal agencies have public access plans that outline how researchers and funding agencies will comply with the federal requirements. The U.S. DOT Public Access Plan requires that all U.S. DOT-funded projects follow a data management plan and submit research data to a publicly accessible repository. NTL provides guidance and resources on complying with U.S. DOT requirements. 

Most state DOT-funded research is not subject to the federal public access requirements. Exempt research includes projects funded through federal-aid programs such as the State Planning and Research (SP&R) program, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and the Transportation Pooled Fund program.

A 2016 NTL presentation clarified that “[r]esearch conducted under formerly federal funds directed to alternative sources (i.e., state DOT funds, pooled funds, SP&R and all TRB cooperative research programs) prior to their apportionment to a specific research program/project are not required to comply with the USDOT plan.”

An April 2022 TRB webinar, Managing and Sharing Research Data for Public Access, highlights best practices based on the research described in NCHRP Research Report 936, Guide to Ensuring Access to the Publications and Data of Federally Funded Transportation Research:

• Research data requirements. Understand the elements of a data package:
  • Research output(s), such as a data set, software, code, model, etc.
  • README.txt that includes a data dictionary
  • Metadata file
  • Data management plan (DMP)
  • Other supporting codes, scripts or tables
• Management and access. Use existing repositories, such as an academic library or generalist third-party repository, that actively preserve and curate data.
  • Check with your home institution first and then look to research partners. The best option may be to contract for repository services.
• Preservation. Discuss the scope of data for preservation with the project’s funder prior to research. These efforts may require additional funding.
  • Clarify with the funder how long data should be preserved. Plan to preserve for decades, depending on the research and its utility.
• Formats. Default to open formats or the format most commonly used from the beginning of the project. Agencies are advised to avoid proprietary or custom formats, if possible, and document choices in the DMP.
• Metadata. Include as much metadata as possible, and look for ways to automate metadata creation or metadata export by tools or software.
• Submitting data sets to ROSA P. The U.S. DOT Public Access Plan does not require U.S. DOT to have a copy of all data sets, unlike research reports. Some data sets are too large, and U.S. DOT did not have the ability to store or share these resources at the time of publication of this Quick Guide. However, transportation libraries should submit metadata content to ROSA P for creation of a metadata entry in ROSA P that links through to the home repository.

While many state DOTs may not be required to develop a public access plan, some have developed policies for making research results and data accessible to the public. Transportation librarians may be called upon to help develop these policies, identify suitable repositories, package research and data for submission, and advise researchers on their responsibilities.

       Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, 2022.

• Understand research data requirements.

• Develop strategies to manage and access data.

• Plan methods for preserving data before the research begins.

• Use open formats from the beginning of the project.

• Include metadata.

• Submit data sets to ROSA P.

Below is a sampling of guidance for developing a public data access plan and an example from the transportation library community:

• NTL provides guidance to help agencies, researchers and others understand the U.S. DOT Public Access Plan.
• In How to Share Publications and Datasets Under the USDOT Public Data Access Plan, NTL data curator Leighton Christiansen provides an overview of best practices.
• TRB developed a series of webinars on data management and U.S. DOT requirements.
• An NTL/Transportation Research and Connectivity pooled fund resource guide provides guidance to researchers on managing research data for public access.
• Wyoming DOT’s data management plan provides guidance for research managers, principal investigators and other parties involved in all stages of a research project.