The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced today that it is seeking public input on ways to restore scientific integrity in the federal government. In March, President Obama asked OSTP to come up with recommendations on a variety of issues situated at the nexus of science and politics.

In a notice in today’s Federal Register, OSTP says, “Comments from the public will help the OSTP determine what should be included in these recommendations.”

OSTP is looking for comments on any of the six issues identified by Obama’s March 9 memo. Those issues are hiring and keeping qualified scientists; defining new policies to ensure integrity; using “well-established scientific processes” like peer review; disclosing scientific findings; ensuring that scientific integrity principles are being adhered to; and adopting additional policies like whistleblower protections.

OSTP also identifies three types of comments it thinks would be most helpful:

Respondents are invited to suggest: (1) Recommendations that would be responsive to the aims of the President, (2) specific implementing strategies, and (3) data and empirical evidence related to the effectiveness of strategies to promote scientific integrity. 

The public comment period begins today, and OSTP will accept comment through May 13. You can email your comments to scientificintegrity@ostp.gov.

In a novel and cool (in a techy way) development, OSTP will also accept comments via its blog. OSTP has a blog entry for each of Obama’s six scientific integrity issues; users can comment on each. Presumably, this will allow users to see others’ comments in real time. (If you really like the principle, maybe you can just leave a smiley face emoticon. JK, LOL.)

Image by Flickr user wstera2, used under a Creative Commons license.