ASGE joined more than 160 organizations in a letter asking congressional lawmakers to reject a proposal from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that would prohibit or condition the eligibility of publication costs for federally funded research.
The proposal is part of a larger push by the OMB to significantly update the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance (or Uniform Guidance) which serves as the primary regulatory framework for federal awards distributed to research universities, nonprofits, and other recipients. Notably, the proposal would change “guidance” into legally binding regulatory policy.
Under the proposed rule, publication costs (including page charges, article processing charges, or similar fees such as open access fees for professional journal publications and other peer-reviewed publications) would be unallowable under Federal awards.
The letter notes that the proposal bars payment for publication expenses while still expecting public access to research results, creating a fundamental contradiction. The letter specifically requests that Congress consider language in Appropriations legislation that preserves researchers’ ability to recover reasonable, grant-related publication expenses and rejects policies prohibiting or conditioning the eligibility of publication costs for federally funded research.