Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act of 2017

This bill requires each federal agency with annual extramural research expenditures of over $100 million to develop a federal research public access policy that (1) is consistent with, and that advances, the purposes of the agency; and (2) follows common procedures for the collection and depositing of research papers.

Each federal research public access policy is applicable to (1) researchers employed by the federal agency whose works remain in the public domain, and (2) researchers funded by the agency. The bill specifies exclusions.

The Government Accountability Office must report to Congress regarding (1) an analysis of the period between the date on which each paper becomes publicly available in a journal and the date on which the paper is in the online repository of the applicable federal agency, and (2) the effectiveness of the policy in providing the public with free online access to papers on research funded by each agency required to develop a policy.