JOINUSDA implements immediate public access; restricts publishing in “countries of concern”
On April 7, USDA released a new regulation implementing the Nelson memo public access policy, which came into effect immediately. Notably, it includes a helpful provision expressly stating that publishers may decide whether a journal permits authors to meet the immediate access/deposit requirements, and that researchers can apply for a waiver if they wish to publish in a journal that does not (see “Policy Exceptions” 7.d.).
The regulation also includes a provision not previously seen (“Policy” 5.b.) stating that “USDA-supported scholarly publications shall not be published in journals using predatory practices or whose publisher has editorial offices managed, owned, controlled, or physically or virtually located in, or operated out of, a foreign country of concern.” STM is investigating what this means in practice and how it may be enforced, and will share more information when available. This may represent an extension of USDA’s “America First” policies announced last year.