NIH Public Access Policy and You: Home

!! NIH-funded researchers should be aware of critical updates to the NIH Public Access Policy that will take effect on July 1, 2025. 

The NIH has announced that the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy will now apply to all articles accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. Due to the significant policy changes and the new, accelerated implementation timeline, it is important for all NIH-funded researchers to understand the requirements and adjust their research plans to comply with them in order to avoid jeopardizing their current and future funding opportunities.

Key Information:

• Immediate submission to PubMed Central (PMC): Authors should submit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to PMC as soon as it is accepted for publications, to be made publicly available on the official date of publication (with “zero embargo”). 

• July 1st acceptance date: The new requirements will apply to articles accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025 even if they were already submitted for peer review when the policy was announced. For some, this may result in unplanned expenses. 

• Open Access fees: Authors should investigate their preferred journals’ policies on Green Open Access and depositing to PMC. While the NIH does not require payment from authors, many journals will charge open access fees, so the only free path to compliance may be choosing a different journal. 

• Self-archiving: Even if a journal allows authors to make their AAM available immediately, many require authors to deposit the manuscript to PMC on their own. 

• Compliance and enforcement: Non-compliance may affect NIH's future funding decisions for the author’s institution or result in delayed award processing. 

We recommend that all NIH-funded researchers learn what the policy requires and consider what publishing options work best for them. If you need help understanding a journal’s policies, the Public Access Policy requirements, or how to submit a manuscript to PMC, ask a Librarian. 

• UNC Lineberger affiliates can email Jamie Ede (jsede@email.unc.edu)
• All other UNC researchers can submit a question to the Health Sciences Library (https://asklib.hsl.unc.edu/) or email OAPublishing@unc.edu. 

We encourage NIH-funded researchers to make the necessary preparations to ensure their manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025 comply with the new NIH Public Access Policy.

What is it?

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy requires that all peer-reviewed publications arising from NIH-funded research must be submitted to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication.  The Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication. The full policy can be found here:https://sharing.nih.gov/public-access-policy/public-access-policy-overview

As described above, the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy is now effective for manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. This 2024 Policy update requires that Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAMs) accepted for publication in a journal to be submitted to PubMed Central (PMC) upon acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication.

Until then, NIH’s current Public Access Policy remains in effect.

How do I comply?

NIH requires that investigators submit manuscripts upon acceptance for publication. Instructions for doing so can be found on the "Submit When Publishing" page.

If you are trying to demonstrate compliance retrospectively, instructions for doing so can be found on the "Retrospective Submission" page.

If the journal in which you wish to publish will not comply with one of the four submission methods described in this guide, it is the responsibility of the author/awardee to choose a different journal that does comply with the public access policy.

How do I monitor it?

You can monitor compliance for your grant using MyNCBI. A tutorial for how do this can be found on the “Manage Compliance with My NCBI” page.

NIH Notice NOT-OD-15-091: Clarifying Reporting Publication Instructions for Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR) and Renewal Applications (released 5/25/2015)

NIH Notice NOT-OD-15-090: Reporting Publications in the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) (released 4/10/2015)

NIH Notice NOT-OD-13-042: Changes to Public Access Policy Compliance Efforts Apply to All Awards with Anticipated Start Dates on or after July 1, 2013 (released 2/14/2013)

NIH Notice NOT-OD-13-035: NIH Requires Use of RPPR for All SNAP and Fellowship Progress Reports, and Expands RPPR Functionality (released 2/6/2013)

NIH Notice NOT-OD-12-160: Upcoming Changes to Public Access Policy Reporting Requirements and Related NIH Efforts to Enhance Compliance (released 11/16/2012)