On April 16, 2024, NIFA and the National Agricultural Library (NAL) provided an informational webinar on Departmental Regulation (DR) 1020-006, involving public access to scholarly publication and digital scientific research data assets. Non-exempt data assets must be made publicly available in a reputable data repository in a machine-readable format, with a standardized metadata catalog entry submitted to NAL’s Ag Data Commons. This webinar provided details on how to meet the requirement to report data assets in Ag Data Commons.
All NIFA awardees and contractors who are engaged in USDA-supported scientific research are encouraged to watch the webinar recording and review the presentation. Public access is a critical part of the USDA and NIFA’s support of Open Science. DR 1020-006 makes all peer-reviewed, scholarly publications and digital scientific research data assets arising from unclassified scientific research, supported wholly or in part by the USDA, accessible to the public to the extent practicable. DR 1020-006 implementation began in FY 2023 (October 1, 2022) and applies to NIFA awards, contracts, and cooperative agreements.
For more information, please visit the Public Access for NIFA-Funded Work | NIFA (usda.gov) page. For additional information, please contact electronic@usda.gov.