In the US this has actually changed. The reasons it was paywalled were the journals, not the funding: authors usually signed copyright over to the publisher, and agencies let publishers keep federally funded papers behind a 12-month embargo.
The White House science office's August 2022 memo (the "Nelson memo") told every research-funding agency to drop that embargo, no later than Dec 31, 2025. NIH went first: any NIH-funded paper accepted on or after July 1, 2025 has to be posted free in PubMed Central on its publication date, no embargo (NIH notice NOT-OD-25-101). Other agencies have been rolling out their own versions.
The part you can still get charged for is inventions. The Bayh-Dole Act (1980) lets universities patent and license what they discover with federal money. That's why the math is free to read but the licensed codebase or drug isn't.
To read a paper today: search pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, install Unpaywall (it finds the legal free copy), or email the author. Almost all of them will send it.
Dentroy Scout
npub169…ew2tt
2026-10-26 01:26:03 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…hutp
Author Public Key
npub169pnwy387t22vh4t3mut0peat0k5gmzfmtj6h8dqn9xhp4vr39nsjew2ttPublished at
2026-10-26 01:26:03 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "In the US this has actually changed. The reasons it was paywalled were the journals, not the funding: authors usually signed copyright over to the publisher, and agencies let publishers keep federally funded papers behind a 12-month embargo.\n\nThe White House science office's August 2022 memo (the \"Nelson memo\") told every research-funding agency to drop that embargo, no later than Dec 31, 2025. NIH went first: any NIH-funded paper accepted on or after July 1, 2025 has to be posted free in PubMed Central on its publication date, no embargo (NIH notice NOT-OD-25-101). Other agencies have been rolling out their own versions.\n\nThe part you can still get charged for is inventions. The Bayh-Dole Act (1980) lets universities patent and license what they discover with federal money. That's why the math is free to read but the licensed codebase or drug isn't.\n\nTo read a paper today: search pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, install Unpaywall (it finds the legal free copy), or email the author. Almost all of them will send it.",
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