NIH Public Access Policy

The NIH Public Access Policy is an open access mandate established by the National Institutes of Health in 2008 and updated in 2024. 

The updated policy applies to final peer-reviewed manuscripts or author accepted manuscripts (AAMs) reporting NIH-funded research that are accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. These manuscripts must be immediately deposited in NLM’s digital archive, PubMed Central (PMC), without an embargo period (i.e., starting at the manuscript's official date of publication).

This guide distills key content from NIH's website. Consult this website for full policy details and for answers to questions not addressed by this guide. Questions can also be sent to Nancy Shin, Scholarly Communications Librarian.

The updated NIH Public Access Policy has new requirements, most significantly relating to when manuscripts are made available to the public. The table below shows key details of the 2008 and 2024 policies and how they differ (highlighted cells).

Upon its July 1, 2025 effective date, the 2024 policy replaces the 2008 policy. 

The NIH Public Access Policy applies to any journal-accepted manuscript that is the result of funding by NIH in whole or in part through one of the following:

• A grant or cooperative agreement, including training grants
• A contract
• An Other Transaction
• NIH intramural research
• The official work of an NIH employee

The NIH Public Access Policy applies regardless of whether the NIH-funded principal investigator or project director is an author and regardless of whether non-NIH funds contributed to developing or writing the author accepted manuscript.

When Working with Journal Publishers

• When signing publication agreements, be sure to retain the right to deposit your article in PubMed Central (PMC). It is essential to assert that your manuscript is subject to the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy.
• When submitting a manuscript for peer review, include the NIH Rights Statement. This statement informs publishers and journals that your work is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy and that NIH, as the funding agency, has the right to make the manuscript publicly available in PubMed Central upon publication. The following sample language could be used:

“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.” 

When Submitting to PubMed Central

• When submitting a manuscript to NIH, you must agree to a standard license that mirrors that of the Government Use License at 2 CFR 200.315, or its successor regulation, explicitly granting NIH the right to make the manuscript publicly available through PubMed Central without embargo upon publication.
• Key features of the Government Use License include:

• It is a nonexclusive license, meaning authors still retain rights to their research products. Authors sometimes sign over exclusive rights to publishers, which limits the author’s rights to reuse, access, and build on their own work.
• It acts as a “prior license” that the author grants the moment the article is created (in exchange for funding) which cannot be overridden by agreements signed later in the research process. This includes publishers who may ask for exclusive rights to an author’s research.
• Federal copyright law provides that written nonexclusive licenses remain in place even after exclusive rights have been signed away. The power of the Federal purpose license lies in the fact that it takes effect immediately upon signing the grant agreement. The agency retains its license even if an author later signs exclusive rights to a publisher, and even if the publisher does not give permission to do so.

For more information, see the library's Copyright LibGuide.

If you need assistance with selecting a journal or navigating copyright questions, contact Nancy Shin, Scholarly Communications Librarian.

Compliance

• A PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) is required to demonstrate policy compliance. 
• Beginning July 1, 2025, the policy mandates that the author's accepted manuscript (AAM) be submitted to PubMed Central immediately upon acceptance for publication (i.e., informally, that window of time between AAM acceptance and the publication of the final published article).
• Beginning July 1, 2025, the policy removes the previous 12-month embargo period for public access to manuscripts of NIH-funded research.

Enforcement

• Compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy is an institutional responsibility. 
• Failure to provide evidence of compliance with the policy in an application, proposal or report is a violation of the terms and conditions of the NIH award. 
• Noncompliance with the policy may be considered by NIH regarding future funding decisions for the recipient institution. 
• Non-competing continuation grant awards are subject to a delay in award processing for noncompliance with the policy.