Implement an Open Access Policy similar to the NIH

NASA should implement an Open Access Policy like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has done concerning (non-classified) research which is the result of NASA funding. The NIH policy (http://publicaccess.nih.gov) places a requirement that all peer-reviewed journal articles that are the result of NIH-funded research must be archived with the NIH's PubMed Central archive within a year of publication.

If NASA did this, it would provide access to the full-text of all journal articles which detail the excellent scientific research that NASA is paying for which are currently locked behind publishing company paywalls.

Journal articles written solely by NASA civil servants are in the public domain by law (as per US Copyright Law, http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#105). However, those articles written by any other researchers (even if there is a mix of civil servants and other researchers) usually must assign copyright to the corporations who publish the articles.

However, lots of other researchers at universities and other research institutions receive NASA funds to carry out research. It seems to me that the same spirit that resulted in the works of civil servants being in the public domain should be applied to the research output of researchers funded by NASA (even if not employed directly by NASA).