The Policy
The NIH Public Access Policy requires researchers to deposit final peer-reviewed manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central (PMC), ensuring the public has access to the results of NIH-funded research.
This Policy has recently changed. This change does not pertain to whether or not the manuscript must be made available through open access. The Policy has always required that. It pertains to when your manuscript must be deposited.
| When was your manuscript accepted? | When must it be deposited? |
| On or after July 1, 2025 | As soon as it is published (AKA with no embargo period) |
| On or after April 7, 2008 | No later than 12 months after publication |
Does This Apply to Your Manuscript?
Principal Investigators are responsible for following the Policy for any peer-reviewed paper that arises directly from their awards, even if they are not an author or co-author of the manuscript. This Policy also applies if you answer "yes" to both of these questions:
✔ Is your paper peer-reviewed?
✔ Did it result from any of the following?
What Happens if I Don't Follow This Policy?
This is not an optional policy to follow. For non-competing continuation grant awards with a start date of July 1, 2013 or beyond, NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
NIH will not process Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) until all papers arising from the award are compliant with the public access policy. Funding for awards with non-compliant RPPRs could be delayed.
