Context
The US government is placing increased emphasis on making federally-funded research available immediately to the community. The 12-month default exclusive access period for JWST Small and Medium programs is receiving particular attention. In late 2022 and early 2023, following requests from the Space Telescope Users Committee (STUC) and James Webb Space Telescope User Committee (JSTUC), STScI conducted a survey of the HST and JWST user communities to solicit opinions on removing Exclusive Access Periods. STScI has compiled the feedback in a report for the user committees. The present advisory committee is asked to assess the community responses and advise the STScI Director on the approach to take with regard to future reductions in default EAPs to non-zero values. The committee is also being asked to consider mechanisms to preserve recognition for proposal teams in a more open-access environment.
Charge
The Advisory Committee is tasked with addressing the following questions:
- Based on the community feedback, what are the key pros and cons of maintaining an exclusive access period for HST and JWST data?
- What steps should be taken in the near-term when NASA sets requirements to reduce the exclusive access period and provide greater community access to different categories of JWST observations?
- What are appropriate justifications for requesting an exclusive access period above the baseline value, and how should such requests be adjudicated?
- What protocols should be established regarding community behavior to respect intellectual investment by investigators on programs with reduced exclusive access period?
The Advisory Committee is chaired by Adam Burgasser (University of California, San Diego), The members include:
Steven Finkelstein (University of Texas, Austin), Shobita Satyapal (George Mason University), Hannah Wakeford (Bristol University), Jason Wright (Pennsylvania State University)
The committee will provide a report on these issues by July1, 2024.
