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Research & Publishing in Health Sciences: NIH Public Access Policy

Learn about library resources, selecting journals, predatory publishing, and EndNote.

NIH Public Access Policy

To advance science and improve human health, NIH makes the peer-reviewed articles it funds publicly available on PubMed Central. The NIH public access policy requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to PubMed Central immediately upon acceptance for publication.

The Policy is applicable to manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. Consequently, the Policy will govern existing grants if the article is published from that date forward. However, for grants closed prior to July 1, 2025, manuscripts accepted after this date will remain subject to the previous requirements, which permit an embargo of up to 12 months. For additional details, refer to FAQ #4 on Scope and Applicability.

How do you comply with the policy?

  • You must provide instant public access to articles, eliminating embargoes
  • Your final peer-reviewed manuscripts must be submitted to PubMed Central (PMC) for immediate public access upon publication.

Pathways for Compliance

NIH will continue to offer two pathways for submission of final peer-reviewed manuscript to PMC:

  1. Submit your manuscript directly to PMC. Learn more about submitting to PMC: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/about/submission-methods/. 
  2. Select a journal with a formal agreement with the National Library of Medicine (NLM). In the tutorial below you will learn how to find whether or not your anticipated or selected journal has an embargo and whether or not it deposits to PMC. 

Understanding Publication Costs

Do you have funds for submitting and paying for Article Processing Charges (APCs)?

Excellent!

  • Be sure these funds are designated specifically for paying publication fees in open access journals.

  • Prepare in advance by familiarizing yourself with journal requirements and expected article processing charges (APCs).

  • Get to know PMC submission guidelines: ultimately, authors are responsible for compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy, so verify whether your chosen journal or publisher will automatically submit your accepted manuscript to PMC.

Do you not have fund for submitting and paying for APCs?

If you do not have dedicated funding for APCs, you can consider several options.

  • First, you might publish in a completely open access journal; using the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) can help you find reputable free open journals.
  • Additionally, consider utilizing UK Libraries agreements, which provide information about journals that have special publishing arrangements with UK—these agreements may allow authors to publish with zero or low-cost article processing charges (APCs). Learn more here:
  • Get to know PMC submission guidelines: ultimately, authors are responsible for compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy, so verify whether your chosen journal or publisher will automatically submit your accepted manuscript to PMC

Alternatively, do you want to support journals that allow for compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy?

Many publishers require authors to choose open access agreements before their manuscripts can be submitted to PMC, which usually means paying an article processing charge (APC). If you want to support journals that make it easy to comply with NIH Public Access Policy, consider those listed in our Journal Compliance Tool. This tool enables users to ascertain which publishers or journals authorize PMC submission, highlights those that do not, and offers details regarding the journals and publishers with which UK Libraries maintain open access agreements that may reduce publication fees.

NIH Public Access Policy Compliance Resources

timeline of NIHMS submission