---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 6623"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "6623"
heading: "Interagency public access committee"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/6623"
units:
  - "Chapter 79 — Science and Technology Policy, Organization and Priorities"
  - "Subchapter II — Office of Science and Technology Policy"
---

# §6623. Interagency public access committee

- (a) **Establishment—** The [Director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5) shall establish a working group under the National Science and Technology Council with the responsibility to coordinate Federal science [agency](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) research and policies related to the dissemination and long-term stewardship of the results of unclassified research, including digital data and peer-reviewed scholarly publications, supported wholly, or in part, by funding from the Federal science [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1).
- (b) **Responsibilities—** The working group shall—
  - (1) identify the specific objectives and public interests that need to be addressed by any policies coordinated under (a);
  - (2) take into account inherent variability among Federal science [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) and scientific disciplines in the nature of research, types of data, and dissemination models;
  - (3) coordinate the development or designation of standards for research data, the structure of full text and metadata, navigation tools, and other applications to maximize interoperability across Federal science [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1), across science and engineering disciplines, and between research data and scholarly publications, taking into account existing consensus standards, including international standards;
  - (4) coordinate Federal science [agency](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) programs and activities that support research and education on tools and systems required to ensure preservation and stewardship of all forms of digital research data, including scholarly publications;
  - (5) work with international science and technology counterparts to maximize interoperability between United States based unclassified research databases and international databases and repositories;
  - (6) solicit input and recommendations from, and collaborate with, non-Federal stakeholders, including the public, universities, [nonprofit](/usc/42/300s–3.md?p=3) and for-profit publishers, libraries, federally funded and non federally[^1] funded research scientists, and other organizations and institutions with a stake in long term preservation and access to the results of federally funded research;
  - (7) establish priorities for coordinating the development of any Federal science [agency](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) policies related to public access to the results of federally funded research to maximize the benefits of such policies with respect to their potential economic or other impact on the science and engineering enterprise and the stakeholders thereof;
  - (8) take into consideration the distinction between scholarly publications and digital data;
  - (9) take into consideration the role that scientific publishers play in the peer review process in ensuring the integrity of the record of scientific research, including the investments and added value that they make; and
  - (10) examine Federal [agency](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) [practices](/usc/42/17061.md?p=19) and procedures for providing research reports to the [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) charged with locating and preserving unclassified research.
- (c) **Patent or copyright law—** Nothing in this section shall be construed to undermine any right under the provisions of title [17](/usc/17.md) or 35.
- (d) **Application with existing law—** Nothing defined in section (b) shall be construed to affect existing law with respect to Federal science [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1)’ policies related to public access.
- (e) **Report to Congress—** Not later than 1 year after January 4, 2011, the [Director](/usc/42/11851.md?p=5) shall transmit a report to Congress describing—
  - (1) the specific objectives and public interest identified under (b)(1);
  - (2) any priorities established under [subsection (b)(7)](#b-7);
  - (3) the impact the policies described under (a) have had on the science and engineering enterprise and the stakeholders, including the financial impact on research budgets;
  - (4) the status of any Federal science [agency](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) policies related to public access to the results of federally funded research; and
  - (5) how any policies developed or being developed by Federal science [agencies](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1), as described in [subsection (a)](#a), incorporate input from the non-Federal stakeholders described in [subsection (b)(6)](#b-6).
- (f) **Federal science agency defined—** For the purposes of this section, the term “Federal science [agency](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1)” means any Federal [agency](/usc/42/8262.md?p=1) with an annual extramural research expenditure of over $100,000,000.

## Footnotes

[^1]: So in original. Probably should be “non-federally”.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 111–358, title I, § 103, Jan. 4, 2011, 124 Stat. 3986.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Section was enacted as part of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010, also known as the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Reauthorization Act of 2010, and not as part of the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976 which comprises this chapter.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Definition

For definition of “Director” as used in this section, see section 2 of Pub. L. 111–358, set out as a note under section 6621 of this title.