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Open Access

Contact open@brown.edu for assistance with questions regarding open access

On July 1st 2025 the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy went into effect, requiring researchers to share the final, peer-reviewed manuscripts resulting from active 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manuscripts accepted for publication in a journal on or after July 1, 2025, regardless of when the award was originally made, as long as the award was not closed prior to July 1, 2025.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 research administrators navigate the systems and processes in place for complying with the NIH Public Access Policy. This can include:

  • Help with uploading your manuscript in the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS), and identifying whether a publisher will do this for you,
  • Delegation or assistance with adding your publications to MyBibliography,
  • Troubleshooting non-compliant publications.

FAQs

NIH Public Access Policy FAQs

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).

  • Authors may still opt to include allowable publication fees as in/direct costs in their award budgets; however, the following costs are not allowable:
    • If a journal attempts to charge authors a special fee for having NIH funding and/or complying with the NIH Public Access Policy.
    • If a journal charges an NIH-funded author an APC when Brown already has an institutional agreement that waives APCs for that journal.

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 and conditions of 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.

Planning Ahead

  • Consider submitting to journals from publishers that still allow free deposit in PMC without embargo (e.g, AAAS/Science, AIAA, AIP, Emerald, IEEE, JAMA and JAMA Network, Mary Ann Liebert, PNAS, Sage)
  • Consider submitting to journals that have agreements with NIH  such as those in the PMC Journal List that currently deposit all their articles into PMC without embargo (be sure to review the specific journal record to confirm that the Release Delay is 0 months (Immediate Release) and the Agreement Status is Active)
  • Consider submitting to journals on this page that have agreements with Brown to waive any open-access fees for Brown researchers so authors can deposit in PMC with no embargo and for free
  • Look for Diamond open-access journals that might have no fees on this list from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) 
  • Consider journals that may comparatively charge authors lower publication fees, such as society journals with discounts for their members  

  • Before signing any publisher's copyright transfer or 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.

  • Select a journal that has a policy that permits authors to self-archive their manuscript in a funder repository without any embargo (see journal policies at Jisc Open Policy Finder)

  • Include Article Processing Charges (APCs) for immediate open access in future grant budgets if journals do not have a zero-day embargo policy 
  • Remember to acknowledge NIH support and include the grant ID in manuscript submissions and this statement should be included in the submitted manuscript so that the journal is aware of author's requirements to comply with the policy
     
Subjects: Open