The 2024 Public Access Policy will go into effect for manuscripts accepted on or after July 1, 2025. Its most significant change requires NIH-supported researchers to submit their Author Accepted Manuscripts to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. Additionally, these manuscripts must be made publicly available immediately upon the Official Date of Publication, without any embargo period. An embargo period of any length for public access will not be permitted.
What Is Expected of Awardees?
Starting July 1, 2025, authors of peer-reviewed journal articles that resulted from any amount of NIH funding are required to:
- Submit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to PubMed Central (PMC) upon the date of acceptance so it will be made publicly accessible upon the Official Date of Publication.
- NIH will accept submission of the Final Published Article to PMC from journals or publishers with formal agreements with the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It is the author’s responsibility to determine if the publisher’s submission process aligns with NIH’s timeline.
- The 2024 Policy applies regardless of whether the NIH-funded principal investigator or project director is a co-author.
2. When depositing to PMC via the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS), agree to a standard license that mirrors the Government Use License, explicitly granting NIH the right to make the AAM publicly available through PMC without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication.
3. Include an acknowledgment of federal funding in the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) and Final Published Article. Details and suggested language for the acknowledgement are provided in a supplemental guidance notice.
Contact the Eccles Health Sciences Library with questions or to request more information about the NIH’s 2024 Public Access Policy.
