NIH Public Access Policy

***IMPORTANT UPDATE***

On April 30, 2025, the NIH Director announced that the effective date for the new NIH Public Access policy would be moved forward (from December 31, 2025) to July 1, 2025 (please see official announcement here).

Embargo

• Under the new policy, all peer-reviewed publications funded by the NIH that are accepted on or after July 1, 2025 must be made publicly available in PubMed Central without an embargo. 

• Publications accepted before July 1, 2025 are allowed to be embargoed (established by the publisher) for up to a year after the Official Date of Publication.

Official Date of Publication

• For publications accepted before July 1, 2025: the Official Date of Publication is defined as the later of the electronic (Epub) and print publication dates. 

• For publications accepted on or after July 1, 2025: this updated policy also changes the definition of the Official Date of Publication to be when an article is first made available.

Increasing access to publications resulting from National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding offers many benefits to the scientific community and the public who funded the underlying research. When patients, families, and healthcare providers can access published findings resulting from NIH funding, they are able to better understand and address the most critical health concerns facing their communities. It also allows researchers, students, and members of the public in all communities to have equitable access to such content. This access can accelerate future research, lead to collaboration, and allow interested readers and patients to follow the latest advances more closely. Importantly, these goals reflect NIH’s commitment to the responsible stewardship of the Nation’s investment in biomedical research by improving transparency and accessibility of taxpayer-funded research, an essential component of fostering trust in research. NIH is issuing this updated Public Access Policy to further advance these goals by accelerating free public access to research results. 

Scope and Effective Date

The NIH Public Access Policy applies to any Author Accepted Manuscript accepted for publication in a journal, on or after July 1, 2025, that is the result of funding by NIH in whole or in part through:

• A grant or cooperative agreement, including training grants,
• A contract,
• An Other Transaction,
• NIH intramural research, or
• The official work of an NIH employee.

The NIH Public Access Policy applies regardless of whether the NIH-funded principal investigator or project director is an author and regardless of whether non-NIH funds contributed to developing or writing the Author Accepted Manuscript. Upon the Effective Date, this Policy replaces the 2008 NIH Public Access Policy.