Starting July 1, 2025, the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy will require that all peer-reviewed journal articles resulting from NIH-funded research be submitted to PubMed Central (PMC) and made immediately publicly available upon publication—embargo periods will no longer be permitted.

What This Means for You

Previously, many publishers deposited articles into PMC after an embargo period at no cost. Under the new policy:

• Articles must be deposited into PMC at the time of publication.
• Embargo periods are no longer allowed.
• Submitting to bioRxiv or other preprint repositories does not meet the requirements
• Some publishers may still submit the article on your behalf, but may now charge a fee for immediate open access.
  • Author self-deposit to PMC is available and free
• Uploading the publisher's PDF may violate copyright, depending on your publication agreement.

How the Health Sciences Library Can Help

We’re here to support you in navigating these changes and ensuring compliance:

• Online guidance on how to comply with the policy
• Free consultations on submission processes.
• Guidance on uploading the correct version—whether the publisher’s PDF (when allowed) or the final peer-reviewed Author Accepted Manuscript, which also meets NIH requirements.
• Help using the NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) system or My NCBI to track compliance.

What You'll Need to Do:

The NIH Public Access Policy requires immediate public access to articles resulting from NIH funding for manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. Typically this occurs through one of two existing submission pathways:

1. submission of the final peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central (PMC) directly by the author, OR
2. submission of the final published article to PMC from a journal that has a formal agreement with the National Library of Medicine (NLM)
   • Publishers may charge Article Processing Charges (APCs) to make your article available as open access and comply with the policy. Note option 1 above allows authors to submit to PMC for free to comply with the policy.

Get Help

Remember you do NOT have to pay article processing charges (APCs) to submit your manuscript to PubMed Central to comply with the policy. Need help? View step-by-step instructions below on how to submit your manuscript, or click below to request assistance.

Get Started: Request a Consultation

How to Comply with the NIH Public Access Policy

In short, compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy involves depositing copies of peer-reviewed articles resulting from NIH funding to PubMed Central. This often occurs via the publisher, but can be also accomplished by author self-deposit. This results in the article being assigned a PMCID which indicates compliance and is used in reporting.

1) Determine Applicability and Confirm Journal Policies

1. Does the NIH Public Access Policy apply to your paper?
2. Does your journal allow you to comply with the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy?

2) Understand your Journal/Publisher's Role

1. Does your journal/publisher assist with compliance? Compliance occurs through submitting the manuscript to the NIH Manuscript Submission System. If you're not sure who is responsible, consult guidance describing the different Methods through which this occurs (Methods A, B, and D where the publisher submits the manuscript, Method C where the author submits)
   1. Does your journal charge a fee for making your article Open Access (often known as Article Processing Charges). Note that NIH states that compliance with the Policy does not require payment of this fee. Consider the free method of compliance below.

3) Understand your Ability to Comply for Free

1. Compliance with the Public Access Policy can by achieved by an author (or their delegate) depositing the Author Accepted Manuscript directly to PubMed Central via the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS).
2. Follow the guidance here for NIHMS Submission Steps, or see more helpful tips in the box below.
   1. Hint: watch your email for messages requiring your approval for this process

NIH requires that the peer-reviewed articles it funds be made publicly available on PubMed Central (PMC). The NIH Public Access Policy requires submission of the final peer-reviewed manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to PMC upon acceptance.

Your article may be non-compliant for several reasons. Typically, the article itself is not in PMC. Other times, there may need to be a correction or clarification about the award associated with the article. Follow the steps below to work through your compliance issues.

1) Check the path your article should take to compliance.

There are four Methods to get your NIH funded article into PubMed Central (PMC).  

Method A - Many journals will submit to PMC for you. Check your acceptance letter or refer to this list from NIH to determine your journal's method.

If your article is not Method A, choose the correct Method below:

• Method B: Method B journals (see List of Method B journals) make arrangements to have a publisher deposit a specific final published article in PMC, this usually involves choosing the journal’s fee-based open access option for publishing that article. If you have chosen Method B and your article does not appear in PMC, contact your publisher.
• Method C: Method C journals do not submit your article to PMC for you. You must deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript (NOT the publisher PDF) in PMC yourself via the NIHMS. There is no list of Method C journals or publishers; make this decision by ruling out the other three options. See below for instructions.
• Method D: Method D journals include those whose publishers have volunteered to deposit a final peer-reviewed manuscript to the NIH Manuscript Submission System when they determine that it falls under the NIH Public Access Policy. See a list of Method D publishers.

2) Instructions for Method C Journals 

These journals require steps on behalf of the author to deposit the manuscript into the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).

• Gather the files you need, including the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) - you'll deposit this and NOT the publisher's PDF. Can't find your AAM? Refer to this guide for authors on how to obtain an Author Accepted Manuscript from a publisher's journal submission system, where the AAM is stored during the publishing process.
  • Note that the AAM must include a complete title page containing the title, author name(s) and affiliation(s), and corresponding author contact information.
  • Remember to also gather any figures, tables, and other files (e.g. supplemental files).
• Follow the steps in this Tutorial to upload your files to NIHMS.

A PMID is the identifying number assigned to articles in PubMed. A PMCID is the identifying number assigned to articles in PubMedCentral, which is an index of full text articles. All peer-reviewed articles supported by NIH funding need to be available in PubMedCentral immediately upon publication per the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy. Having a PMCID shows that your article is in compliance, and you may need it for grant reporting.

Below are selected biomedical publishers with links to their public access pages. This may help when reaching out to these publishers for Method D deposit.

• BMJ
• Elsevier
• Lippincott
• Springer Nature
• Wiley

Other General Tips for Managing Compliance

Add Citations to My Bibliography

• Add and Manage Citations to My Bibliography
• Authorize a Delegate to work with My Bibliography

Manage Compliance

• Manage Compliance
• Public Access FAQs
• NIH Manuscript Submission System
• NIHMS System Tutorials

Associate Awards with Citations

• Associate Awards with Citations

If you need assistance determining the Public Access compliance status for your articles or understanding the deposit method for your journal, please contact us.