How copyright and the federal purpose license work together to enable self-deposit
When you accept federal research funding, the U.S. government automatically receives a Federal Purpose License under 2 CFR § 200.315(b).
This license:
- Grants the government royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable rights to reproduce, publish, or use your work for federal purposes.
- Applies automatically, regardless of any publisher agreement you sign.
- Supersedes publisher restrictions that conflict with federal access requirements.
- Allows you to retain your copyright while still sharing your work publicly.
What this means for you
You can comply with federal public access and open-data policies even if your publisher requires an embargo or exclusive license. Consider which publishers and journals you might publish with and prioritize the ones who make it easy for you to deposit your work according to your funder’s requirements.
Understand their policies for self-archiving your accepted manuscript and if there may be any fees associated with publishing. If publishing fees are required, consider publishing elsewhere (e.g., with a society publisher or university press where fees aren’t required) or include any allowable publishing costs as part of your proposal budget for funder consideration. Additionally, ASU Library is able to provide waivers or discounts on APCs with certain publishers as a result of our partnerships and subscriptions.