Access to NASA research made free to the public

NASA has launched a new public web portal making all scientific NASA research available to everyone. Oh – and it’s all free of charge. Cue a collective cheer from space geeks everywhere!

This is all happening thanks to NASA’s new policy regarding NASA research articles in peer-reviewed journals. They must be made publicly accessible and it has to happen within a year after they’re published.

Science fans aren’t the only ones celebrating. Officials at NASA are also pretty pleased with the chance to show off all of their research and hard work.

“At NASA, we are celebrating this opportunity to extend access to our extensive portfolio of scientific and technical publications,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman in a news release. “Through open access and innovation we invite the global community to join us in exploring Earth, air and space.”

Previously, people had to pay to access many of NASA’s published journal articles. The new policy was put into place after a 2013 request from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. They wanted to ensure that the public had easy and open access to the results of federally-funded research.

NASA developed public access plan through a coordinated effort between science and technology research teams across the organization. As time goes on, it hopes to further improve the plan in ways that will increase public access to search results.

At the moment, the database – called PubSpace – has 861 articles available for public perusal. People can simply wander through the site or search for a topic that interests them. NASA will add to the database as more research is published.

“Making our research data easier to access will greatly magnify the impact of our research,” said NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan. “As scientists and engineers, we work by building upon a foundation laid by others.”

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By Dawn Henderson, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: Dava Newman and Ellen Stofan, NASA