
The start date for the NIH revised Public Access Policy is now July 1, 2025 (moved up from December 31, 2025). The changes for authors with publications based on NIH-funded research include the discontinuation of embargoes and the timing of deposit to PubMed Central.
Key points about these changes for authors:
- Article acceptance: This policy applies based on the date that your manuscript is accepted by a journal, rather than the date you received NIH funding. Any manuscript accepted by a journal on or after July 1, resulting in whole or in part from funding by NIH, will fall under this revised policy.
- Open access requirement: Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAM) for NIH-funded research must be made publicly available in PubMed Central as the 12-month embargo is no longer an option from July 1 onward. The NIH Public Access Policy "requires Author Accepted Manuscripts accepted for publication in a journal, on or after July 1, 2025, to be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication."
- Publication costs: Paying Article Processing Charges (APCs) for open access on a journal publisher's site does not fulfill these new NIH requirements; authors must deposit in PubMed Central to comply.
If an author chooses to publish with a journal that assesses APCs, reasonable publication costs may be covered by NIH funds, and/or UC Libraries offer support for publication costs with select publishers. UC authors can utilize the Journal Open Access Lookup Tool to determine whether a journal is covered and the amount of support available.
- Rights: By accepting NIH funding, authors grant NIH nonexclusive rights to use their manuscripts for federal purposes, including making manuscripts publicly available in PubMed Central. Authors also agree to a submission statement when depositing manuscripts in PubMed Central. Additionally, NIH encourages authors to let publishers and journals know that their research is part of the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy by including the NIH Rights Statement and disclaimer in their manuscript.
- Data: The new policy applies only to publications. Data sharing requirements have not changed and continue to fall under the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy.
Please reach out to the University Library for any questions about open access publishing. For questions about specific award terms and policy compliance, please reach out to your OSP contact.