The White House Office of Science and Technology policy has issued its long-awaited guidance on scientific integrity in government.

The guidance, from OSTP director John Holdren, follows up on Barack Obama’s March 2009 memo on scientific integrity. At the time, OSTP was given 120 days to provide additional guidance to agencies to implement the ideas, but it’s taken 648 to actually do it.

In the meantime integrity advocates sued to find out the cause of the delay. Watchdogs are giving the document a cautious welcome. Francesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists says “we think it’s got some real positives but it’s also got some limitations.” Among the pluses: clear rules allowing government scientists to participate in the scientific community by presenting research at meetings and serving on the boards of scientific societies and journals. Among the limitations: ambiguous language as to the amount of coordination needed for contact with the media.