On April 30, the NIH announced an accelerated timeline for its 2024 Public Access Policy. The policy, originally scheduled to go in effect on December 31, 2025 will now apply to all manuscripts from NIH-funded research accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals on or after July 1, 2025.

What does the new policy cover?

Manuscripts from NIH-funded research accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal on or after July 1, 2025.

What does the new policy require?

The policy has three requirements:

  1. Submission of an electronic version of the Author Accepted Manuscript to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication.
  2. An acknowledgement that satisfies the requirements in the NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS) regarding communicating and acknowledging federal funding.
  3. Agreement to a standard license explicitly granting NIH the right to make the Author Accepted Manuscript publicly available through PubMed Central without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication

View the full policy here.

How does this differ from the current NIH Public Access Policy?

The current policy (in effect until June 30, 2025) allows for a 12-month embargo period after the official date of publication for accepted manuscripts to be made publicly available in PubMed Central. The major difference is that the new 2024 policy removes this embargo period.

What is an Author Accepted Manuscript?

The Author Accepted Manuscript is the author's final version of an article that has been accepted for publication in a journal and includes all revisions resulting from peer review, as well as all tables, graphs, and supplemental material. It is NOT the final published article, which is the journal's authoritative version including stylistic edits and formatting.

How do I submit my manuscript to PubMed Central?

There are variety of methods, depending on the journal you publish with.

  1. Method A: Journals on this list automatically make the final published version of NIH-funded articles available in PubMed Central on the author's behalf.
  2. Method B: Journals on this list allow the author to make arrangements (usually by paying an open access fee) for the journal to deposit the final published version of a specific article on their behalf.
  3. Method C: The author or someone the author delegates deposits the Author Accepted Manuscript directly using the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS). 
  4. Method D: Publishers on this list will deposit the author accepted manuscript of NIH-funded articles on behalf of the author.

See the NIH's guidance on Submitting to PubMed Central for more information.

Do I have to pay article processing charges (APCs) and publish my article open access in order to comply with the policy?

Open access publishing of the final journal article is NOT a requirement of the NIH Public Access Policy. You are only required to submit the Author Accepted Manuscript to PubMed Central to be made available without embargo. (Note that if you do choose to publish open access, you must make sure that either you or the publisher also submit the article or manuscript to PubMed Central.)

It is important to understand the author guidelines and policies that may apply to your manuscript before signing a publication agreement. NIH suggests communicating directly with the journal as soon as possible upon submission that the NIH Public Access policy applies to your manuscript.

In addition to the lists above, the following resources can help in selecting a journal for publication of NIH-sponsored research. Note that not all information may yet be updated to reflect the 2024 Policy changes.

Have the NIH's requirements for data sharing changed as a result of this policy?

No, the 2023 Data Management and Sharing Policy remains in effect for all NIH-funded research.

Have additional questions or want more information?

Contact Danielle Maurici-Pollock or Robyn Gleasner, or stop by one of our upcoming workshops below:

Understanding the NIH Data Management and Sharing and Public Access Policies
This one-hour online workshop will review recent changes to NIH policies that could impact your research and publications, including the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy and the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. Register to attend a session from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. MDT on the following dates:

Understanding the New NIH Public Access Policy
Interested in just learning more about the NIH 2024 Public Access Policy? This 30-minute online workshop will cover the basics. Register to attend a session from 12:00 - 12:30 p.m. MDT on the following dates:

Open Access Publishing 101

These session will provide researchers and scholars with basic information about open access publishing including models and paths to Open Access; funding options such as article processing charges, publisher/transformative agreements, and including as a line item in grant proposals; and how these options may influence selection of scholarly output. Register to attend a session from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. MDT on the following dates: