What is the Institute of Education Sciences Policy Regarding Public Access to Research?

Beginning in FY 2012, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) requires those receiving federal grants and contracts to submit any peer-reviewed, final manuscripts upon acceptance for publication in a peer-reviewed journal or as a final deliverable, unless the grantee or contractor has published their work in a source that has agreed to submit the work on their behalf. For the list of participating sources, click here. For more information, access the IES Policy Regarding Public Access to Research, the video on the IES Public Access Policy, and the recorded webinar Submitting Federally Funded Research to ERIC.

How do I know if I have to submit work to ERIC? This flow chart should help with your decision:

Have any publishers have agreed to submit final, peer-reviewed manuscripts on an author's behalf?

Publishers of almost 700 sources have agreed to submit work on behalf of IES grantees and contractors. For the list of participating sources, click here.

If I need to upload my IES grant- or contract-funded work to ERIC, how should it be submitted?

U.S. Department of Education grantees and contractors who are subject to making their work widely available in ERIC should submit these materials through the ERIC online submission system. Select 'Yes' to the question "Has your work been funded (in whole or in part) by a U.S. government research grant or contract?" and enter the grant or contract number(s) into the submission form (multiple numbers should be separated by semi-colons) and include it on the submitted PDF. Please also specify the funding source within the Department and include this information on the submitted PDF as well.

I have received a grant or contract from IES. What if my publisher does not give me permission to deposit my work in ERIC

It is the responsibility of awardees not to sign away the right to deposit their work in ERIC. Because submission to ERIC is a condition of the award, this must be negotiated prior to being accepted for publication.

There are no waivers for this policy. Please contact your project officer with any questions about the conditions of your award.

The author's final manuscript is defined as the version accepted for journal publication that includes all modifications from the peer review process. This is different from the journal version in that it may not have final formatting and editing.

Yes. Every PDF must show either a publication, completion, acceptance, or “online first” date. The date shown on the PDF must be the same as the date entered in the submission form.

The journal I am publishing in already is indexed in ERIC, do I still need to submit this work to ERIC?

Possibly. To be in compliance with your grant or contract, you must submit your final, peer-reviewed manuscript to ERIC unless the source has agreed to submit the work on your behalf. To access the list of participating sources, click here.

Grantees and contractors are required to submit their work to ERIC using the online submission system as soon as the article has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication in a journal or accepted by the Department as a final deliverable.

The citation and abstract of grantee work will be available in ERIC within 90 days of submission. The full-text PDF of your work will be available in ERIC 12 months after the date of publication for journal articles. Contractor-produced work will be available without an embargo period.

If you produce work that is funded by IES, peer reviewed, and not published by IES, then it should be submitted through the online submission system. Please contact your grant officer or Contracting Officer’s Representative for more information and to discuss how the public access policy applies to your work.

Grant-funded work submitted through the online submission system will be displayed with 'Grantee Submission' as the source on the ERIC record. The citation and abstract will be available immediately and the full text will be displayed12 months after the date of publication. If the journal is indexed by ERIC, there will also be a journal citation for that article as well. For an example, see here.

Contractor-funded work will be displayed with the contractor name or the program name as the source. The work will be identified by the contract number entered in the ERIC record. For example, see here.

Can my submission be considered a Grantee Submission if the funding comes from some other entity than the U.S. Government?

No. This publication type is only used for work funded by the U.S. government. Work that is funded by countries outside of the United States, U.S.-based foundations or other private organizations, or state governments will be indexed with Online Submission as the source.

Please access the Online Submission FAQs for additional information on how to prepare your work for submission to ERIC. These FAQs provide important details about the data and abstract you should have on hand prior to using the Online Submission System.
Access the infographic Tips for a Successful Grantee or Online Submission to ERIC.

Grantees may use the fillable PDF coversheet found here to provide the title of the article, paper, or book (chapter); author name(s); journal citation, or conference, or book information, and publication date (for unpublished works, use the date of document completion). Critically, complete the funding acknowledgement section with the name of the funding agency and the grant or contract number(s). The coversheet must be attached to the PDF of the submitted content.