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NIH Public Access Policy

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What is the NIH Public Access Policy?

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

Under the updated policy, final peer-reviewed manuscripts or the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) reporting NIH-funded research that are accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025, must be immediately deposited in NLM’s digital archive, PubMed Central (PMC) upon acceptance of publication at no embargo upon Official Date of Publication.

For an overview of the policy, visit the NIH's Public Access Policy website.

What Compliance Requires

Submitting Your Research Output
Reporting, Citing, and Managing Your Submission
  • You are required to provide the PubMed Central ID (PMCID) when citing your article; the PMCID is also proof of on time Policy compliance
  • If you have not been issued a PMCID, use the NIHMS number until you received the PMCID
  • See After Submission to PMC for more information

A New NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS)

This is an older video that reviews the improvements to the NIHMS system at the time. These changes will make the system easier to use. Note that this is not a step-by-step tutorial, and it is possible that some of the screenshot text may change before the final release of the updated site slated for 2020.