NIH Public Access Policy table of contents
Overview
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy (Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-047) on December 17, 2024. The policy is an update to the 2008 policy in response to the 2022 White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Memorandum, "Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research," which set the requirement for peer-reviewed journal articles and data from all research funded in whole or in part by NIH to be made immediate publicly accessible upon publication.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on April 30, 2025 an accelerated implementation date for the updated Public Access Policy. It will now go into effect July 1, 2025.
The updated NIH Public Access Policy advances the NIH’s long standing prioritization of providing public access to NIH funded research. NIH's 2023 Data Management and Sharing Policy remains in effect and will not change based on this new policy implementation date.
Public access requirements
The Public Access Policy applies to all grants, including those awarded prior to the implementation date.
Starting July 1, 2025, investigators are required to submit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) or Final Published Article for any peer-reviewed journal article based on research funded, in whole or in part, by NIH grants into PubMed Central (PMC) immediately upon the Official Date of Publication.
Authors must include a statement in the AAM and Final Published Article that satisfies the requirements in the NIH Grants Policy Statements GPS 4.2.1 and GPS 8.2.1 and other requirements for acknowledging federal funding in the terms of Other Transaction agreements and applicable contracts.
When submitting to NIH, authors must also agree to a license similar to the Government Use License (2 CFR 200.315), explicitly granting NIH the right to make the AAM publicly available in PMC, with no embargo, on the Official Date of Publication.
Definitions
- Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM): "The author’s final version that has been accepted for journal publication and includes all revisions resulting from the peer review process, including all associated tables, graphics, and supplemental material."
- Final Published Article: "The journal's authoritative copy, including journal or publisher copyediting and stylistic edits, and formatting changes, even prior to the compilation of a volume or issue or the assignment of associated metadata."
- Official Date of Publication: "The date on which the Final Published Article is first made available in final, edited form, whether in print or electronic (i.e., online) format.
Compliance requirements
To comply with the policy, the Author Accepted Manuscript to PubMed Central must be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication and NIH granted the right to make it publicly available on the Official Date of Publication.
For journals or publishers with formal agreements with the National Library of Medicine, compliance can be met by submission to PubMed Central on the Official Date of Publication, for immediate public access.
By accepting NIH funding, recipients agree to grant NIH a license to the Author Accepted Manuscript. When submitting an AAM, authors will agree to a license similar to the Government Use License (2 CFR 200.315), which provides NIH with a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to the Author Accepted Manuscripts:
“I hereby grant to NIH, a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use this work for Federal purposes and to authorize others to do so. This grant of rights includes the right to make the final, peer-reviewed manuscript publicly available in PubMed Central upon the Official Date of Publication.”
This explicitly grants NIH the right to make the article publicly available in PubMed Central on the Official Date of Publication. This resource provides more explanation of the government use license.
NIH encourages authors to include a statement that indicates the Author Accepted Manuscript is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy provided in the Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy: Government Use License and Rights NOT-OD-25-049
“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.”
Costs
The NIH Public Access Policy does not require authors to pay a fee, such as an article processing charge for open access. The updated policy continues to allow reasonable publication costs as part of the project budget.
Fees charged by a journal or publisher for submission of the AAM to PubMed Central are not allowable costs.
Support resources
- NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) instructions on how to submit a manuscript to PubMed Central. "Method C" is for authors submitting directly to PMC:
- NIHMS login
- Video overview [note: the updated policy does not all for an embargo]
- Illustrated submission tutorials
- FAQ
- NIH Public Access Policy Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-047 (Released December 17, 2024)
- Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy: Government Use License and Rights NOT-OD-25-049 (Released December 17, 2024)
- NEW! Authors Alliance NIH Public Access Policy: Q&A for Authors
- The Federal Purpose License: What Campuses Need to Know