The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. To help advance science and improve human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central.
A new version of the Public Access Policy will go into effect on 07/01/25. You can find details on the updated policy here. Most aspects of the policy will remain the same, with the major difference being that the 12 month embargo no longer exists and publications should be made publicly accessible in Pubmed Central immediately upon publication.
The primary mechanism that allows for this change is the requirement that all NIH funded research be published under a Government Use License. You can find more information on that here, which includes sample language to include in your manuscript asserting your the right to be included in PubMed Central.
Not all journals have updated their policies, and we will update this space as changes occur. Currently the following publishers allow accepted manuscripts to be uploaded into Pubmed Central on publication for NIH-funded work. For additional information on what specific journals allow, see Open Policy Finder
For publishers who offer free Open Access publishing (which allow immediate uploads into PubMed Central), see our Guide to Open Access Publishing for publishers that Weill Cornell has an institutional relationship with, and the Directory of Open Access Journals for all other journals.
For all other publishers, negotiate making the postprint freely available immediately in PubMed Central, or agree to pay whatever fees are required by the publisher
All of your papers that fall under the NIH Public Access Policy, whether in press or in print, must include evidence of compliance in all of your NIH applications and reports. There are a few steps necessary to ensure your publication demonstrates compliance.
