Public Access Frequently Asked Questions

What is Public Access and does it apply to me?

How do I...

To access the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR), you need to sign in to Research.gov and choose "Manage Research Products" on the main landing page under the "Awards & Reporting". Alternatively, you will be prompted within Project Reports to deposit publications in NSF-PAR when reporting journals or juried conference papers as published.

The NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) is the designated repository where NSF-funded investigators must deposit peer-reviewed, published journal articles and juried conference papers in order to meet the Public Access deposit requirement and to include the relevant information in their project reports. NSF-PAR also provides search mechanisms to enable the public to find and use these articles and papers.

If your organization receives an award based on a proposal submitted, or due, on or after January 25, 2016, then the Public Access requirement applies to that award and to publications resulting from it.

To access the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR), you need to sign in to Research.gov and choose “Deposit publication” from My Desktop. Alternatively, you will be prompted within Project Reports to deposit publications in NSF-PAR when reporting journals or juried conference papers as published. Once deposited and validated in NSF-PAR, the publications will then be automatically included in your project report under the Products section. It may take up to 6 hours for them to appear in your project report.

For awards subject to the Public Access requirement, if you submitted journal or juried conference paper publications in the NSF Public Access Repository, it may take up to 6 hours for them to appear in your project report. If it has been 6 hours since you deposited your publication, please contact the NSF Help Desk.

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique alphanumeric string assigned to a digital object (e.g., a journal article). DOIs allow the system to retrieve bibliographic information about a scholarly publication and a permanent link to the object on the web.

The CrossRef free DOI lookup is a helpful resource. A general internet search of the publication may also help you retrieve most DOI numbers.

You will have an option to manually input the publication information in NSF-PAR.

NSF-PAR accommodates the widely used non-proprietary PDF/A format.

Microsoft Word documents can be saved in the PDF/A format. In addition to paid software, such as Adobe Acrobat Professional, there are also many other 3rd party applications and services that are free or have free versions with more limited functionality (e.g., DocuPub, PDFCreator, or Ghostscript) that can convert documents to the PDF/A format. We also recommend working with your publisher to obtain a properly formatted version of your publication.

The document may be made available to the public following the embargo (administrative interval) if a version of record is not available from the provider. PIs, co-PIs, and NSF Program staff will also have access to a copy once a project report is submitted.

Please follow the guidance for parsing your existing document and inserting a link where the full document is stored.

Only the PI or co-PI can deposit peer-reviewed, published journal articles and juried conference papers in the NSF Public Access Repository.

To manage the publications deposited in NSF-PAR that are tied to your awards, you need to sign in to Research.gov and choose ‘Manage deposited publications’ from My Desktop. You will be able to search, sort, and edit publications that are tied to your awards.

If the DOI lookup was used to retrieve publication information, only the publisher is able to update this information. We recommend contacting the publisher to make these changes if any of the information needs to be updated.

Additionally, if the publication information was manually entered in the NSF Public Access Repository, only the person who created the record can make these updates.

If you deposited or updated (e.g., added an award ID or changed the file) a publication in the NSF Public Access Repository, it may take up to 6 hours for those updates to appear in your project report. If it has been 6 hours since you deposited your publication, please contact the NSF Help Desk.

Once the publication is deposited, you will have access to the NSF PAR ID of your publication. You can either search for the publication from the public site (https://par.nsf.gov/) or via the Manage Publication link on My Desktop after logging into Research.gov.

From the public site, you can search via the title or the award ID of the deposited publication on the https://par.nsf.gov/ . You can also use the advanced search option to search for the NSF PAR ID via the Identifier Numbers field.

From Research.gov My Desktop, select the ‘Manage deposited publications’ link. You will be able to search, sort, and edit deposited publications that are tied to your awards.

E-Link is a Department of Energy (DOE) system, developed and maintained by DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). Scientific and Technical Information (STI) produced as a result of DOE-funded research or other work is submitted to OSTI via E-Link, for subsequent announcement, availability, and preservation. E-Link is used by authorized DOE and DOE Contractor staff across the Department and at DOE National Laboratories and other major facilities. It also provides for Departmental electronic review of deliverables and final reports submitted to E-Link by Financial Assistance Recipients and grantees.

If you deposited a publication in the DOE E-Link system and are unable to make a successful match in NSF-PAR, this could be for a few reasons, including:

  1. The publication record has not completed processing in the DOE E-Link system. You may proceed with uploading your final accepted version, or you may return to NSF-PAR at a later time to see if your match with DOE via E-Link is successful.
  2. The final accepted version you provided to DOE is not available in a PDF/A format.  The DOE E-Link system attempts to convert all accepted manuscript records to PDF/A format, but in a small number of cases is unable to complete this process.  You may continue with your submission by uploading your final accepted version in PDF/A format.  More information regarding the NSF requirement for PDF/A format can be found within these FAQs.

Yes. Under the terms and conditions of your award, you are required to deposit your publication even though the award has been completed. The system will allow you to associate a paper with an award that is closed out. Since the paper is linked to the award that funded the research and that award is now closed, the citation will not link to the closed award’s annual or final project report.

If the renewal award also supported the research and you would like to report the citation in the renewal award’s annual or final project report, you may do so by signing in to Research.gov and choosing the “Deposit Publication” link where you will be able to access the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR). Follow the 4- step wizard to deposit your publication and associate it to the applicable awards (renewal award and closed award). The publication will then appear in the renewal award’s annual project report after submission. Additionally, the citation information for the publication will be linked to the closed award in the public facing NSF Public Access Repository (par.nsf.gov) as well as in NSF’s Award Search and Research Spending and Results.