STM NEWSROOM

On January 22, NSF announced an immediate update to its public access policies in its Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG). Effective immediately for new “financial assistance awards,” NSF grant recipients are required to deposit an accepted manuscript to the NSF Public Access Repository (PAR) immediately “at or before the time of publication.” On…

In January, NSF released a draft 2026-2030 Strategic Plan. The draft is briefer and more high-level than previous plans, outlining nine objectives along with high-level strategies to achieve them and measures of success. Of particular interest to STM members, NSF proposes to measure success of the first objective — “Uphold tenets of Gold Standard Science while…

On Tuesday, February 3, after a brief partial government shutdown, Congress funded the remaining parts of the government for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2026 (with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security). The final bill included funding for NIH and other remaining science agencies. Funding for NIH was increased slightly (~1%), while DOD’s…

Tucked into the “Joint Explanatory Statement” accompanying the Appropriations “Minibus” passed in January is a non-binding provision requesting that the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) report on the status of a “process of repealing the August 25, 2022, Memorandum to Executive Departments and Agencies entitled, ‘Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access…

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) shared that Simon Hutson has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of CLA.  With over 20 years of experience across publishing, media and technology, including leadership roles at the BBC, Reuters and Cision, Hutson brings a powerful blend of commercial insight, strategic innovation and a deep commitment to creators and publishers. Read…

To kick off the new year, Congress agreed to a “minibus” spending package that rejects the Administration’s draconian cuts to federal science funding. The package includes several key science agencies, with only slight reductions for NSF, NASA, USGS, and NOAA, and modest increases for the DOE Office of Science and NIST. While these numbers might ordinarily disappoint the…

Last year, NIH abruptly cancelled or rejected thousands of grants based on their alleged non-alignment with Administration priorities. This included the unilateral rejection of projects addressing disfavored topics such as diversity, equity, and inclusion. In response to legal challenges — though without admitting wrongdoing — NIH has agreed to reconsider more than 5,000 grants. According…

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last year issued a Request for Information (RFI) on “how DOE should best structure and enable partnerships to curate DOE scientific data across the National Laboratory complex for use in artificial intelligence (AI) models.” In response, STM highlighted the importance of clear licensing frameworks, the value of high-quality and validated information,…

The European Commission has released a report examining how copyright law affects the ability of institutions — such as libraries, educational establishments, research organisations, and museums — to provide remote access to digital materials for education and research. The report highlights legal and practical challenges and explores potential avenues to improve the framework for conducting research remotely…

On January 13, NSF released a draft of its 2026–2030 Strategic Plan and invited public comment by January 26, 2026. The draft is shorter and more high-level than previous versions, outlining nine objectives along with broad strategies and success measures for each. For example, to measure progress on the first objective — “Uphold tenets of Gold…