NIH Public Access Policy

The 2024 NIH Public Access Policy requires Author Accepted Manuscripts accepted for publication in a journal, on or after December 31, 2025, to be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication.

UPDATE: The NIH Public Access Policy will go into effect on July 1, 2025 at which time it will replace the 2008 Public Access Policy. The 2024 NIH Public Access Policy applies to all articles accepted for publication in a journal, on or after July 1, 2025.

• Immediate Submission to PubMed Central: Researchers must submit their Author Accepted Manuscripts to PubMed Central without delay. This ensures that research is accessible to the public as soon as possible.
• No Embargo Period: There will no longer be an embargo period for journals. Full-text must be made publicly available in PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication.
• Impact on Funding: Non-compliance with these new requirements could affect current and future funding opportunities, including grant renewals.
• No Additional Costs to Authors: Authors can submit their manuscript files to PubMed Central at no cost, regardless of whether they have published open access or not.  Compliance with the Policy should not require the payment of an open access fee to a journal. (Please note this is evolving and some publishers are trying to levy fees.  At this time, NIH is saying that Authors may not use NIH funds to pay for right or a license to submit their Author Accepted Manuscripts to comply with the policy (See NIH PAP FAQs;  See unallowable costs. )  
  • Note: Fully OA journals: if you are publishing in a true open access journal that charges an APC (article processing charge), you will still pay the APC as that is required to publish in the journal.  Grant funding can be used for this.
  • Some publishers are levying "Development Fees".  However, per the policy, grant funding cannot be used in this case. See unallowable costs.
• Inform the journal your Author Accepted Manuscript is subject to the policy:   
  • Suggested language to share with Publisher:  This manuscript is the result of funding in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy. Through acceptance of this federal funding, NIH has been given a right to make this manuscript publicly available in PubMed Central upon the Official Date of Publication, as defined by NIH.

Disclaimer:   This page is provided to summarize the NIH Public Access policy to provide guidance on compliance.   It does not take the place of the policy itself.  View the policy: 2024 NIH Public Access Policy

Note: The policy does not prevent authors from depositing their Author Accepted Manuscripts into institutional repositories, as long as Author Accepted Manuscripts are also deposited in PubMed Central per the Policy.   Feel free to also deposit your author manuscript in INDIGO (UIC's institutional repository).