NIH Public Access Policy

On December 17, 2024, the NIH issued its updated Public Access Policy. The new policy goes into effect on July 1, 2025.

The 2024 Public Access Policy is effective for manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. Until then, NIH's current (2008) Public Access Policy remains in effect. You can view the 2024 policy and supplemental guidance at: https://osp.od.nih.gov/policies/public-access/. 

The Policy

The NIH Public Access Policy (the Policy) requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to PubMed Central immediately upon acceptance for publication.

Policy Criteria

The policy applies to any paper that: is peer-reviewed, accepted for publication after July 1, 2025, and was funded in part or whole by an NIH grant.

Compliance

Principal investigators (PIs) and their institutions are responsible for ensuring compliance of papers that arise directly from their awards, even if they are not an author of the paper. 

The Compliance Process

The compliance process should be initiated upon a paper's acceptance for publication. As a best practice, determine up front who will be responsible for ensuring that the paper is submitted to PubMed Central. Typically, the Corresponding Author takes up this responsibility as part of their role, but this should be confirmed by all of the authors of the paper. Please refer to the NIHPA Compliance Checklist linked in the box on the left-hand side of this page for step-by-step guidance.

Non-Compliance

A paper is non-compliant if it is not posted to PubMed Central upon its publication in the journal, whether online or in print. Keep in mind that non-compliant papers are reported in the primary awardee's name.