On July 1st 2025 the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy goes into effect, requiring researchers to share the final, peer-reviewed manuscripts resulting from NIH funding accepted for publication in a journal on or after July1st 2025 in PubMed Central (PMC) without any embargo (delayed access). The 2024 Policy applies to all peer-reviewed manuscripts accepted for publication in a journal on or after July 1, 2025, regardless of when the award was originally made, as long as the award was not closed prior to July 1, 2025. For awards that were closed prior to July 1, 2025, authors with any subsequent Author Accepted Manuscripts resulting from and citing the closed NIH award are expected to continue to comply with the 2008 Public Access Policy, which allows for an up-to 12-month embargo.
The Library's HBLS team can help researchers and administrators navigate the systems and processes in place for complying with the NIH Public Access Policy. This can include:
When does it take effect?
The 2024 policy will impact manuscripts resulting from active NIH awards accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025; thus will apply to many manuscripts resulting from active NIH grants funded before July 1.
How do I comply?
The Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) — the final, peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication — resulting from NIH funds must be deposited immediately in the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS) and PubMed Central (PMC). Journal publishers may no longer impose an embargo period on these AAMs. Journals with an active agreement to deposit all articles without embargo can be found in the PMC Journal List, which is available at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals/. A journal or publisher may also deposit select articles in PMC if special arrangements are made to allow for immediate release. A list of publishers that provide this service is available from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/about/selectivedeposit/.
Do I have to pay to comply?
The updated policy does not mandate that authors publish in a fully open access journal (Gold Open Access) or hybrid open access journal, and does not require authors to pay any fees to comply with the policy, such as paying an article processing charge (APC).
Who can assist me at Brown?
Brown University provides support for authors in complying with the NIH Public Access Policy. The experts in the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) can answer questions about budgeting, direct or indirect, for allowable publication costs, and about compliance with the terms, conditions, and contracts of researchers’ NIH awards.
Health and Biomedical Library Services (HBLS) partners with the Division of Research to assist authors with manuscript requirements. This includes using My NCBI and My Bibliography to manage NIH-funded publications and uploading their Author Accepted Manuscripts to the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS) and PMC. See the HBLS guide to the NIH Public Access Policy for more details, and email HealthSciLibrarians@brown.edu with any questions.
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