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Change in NIH Public Access Policy
Effective July 1, 2025
Attention all researchers! There has been a change in NIH's public access policy. The policy still requires that all NIH-supported journal publications be submitted to PubMed Central. However, there are new requirements concerning the timing of submission and embargo period.
What will change?
- No embargo periods. This replaces the previous 2008 Public Access Policy, which provided for an embargo of up to twelve months on the PubMed Central copy of the article.
- New definition of “Published”: Previously “published” was defined as the later of the electronic or print publication date. In the new policy, “published” is defined as the date on which the article is first made available in final, edited form, whether in print or electronic.
- Publications must be compliant at the time of publication (print or electronic) – Please submit manuscripts when the publisher accepts your paper.
What stays the same?
- Authors will continue to submit their “Author Accepted Manuscript”, pre-publication manuscripts to PubMed Central. This is the author’s final version that has been accepted for journal publication and which includes all revisions resulting from the peer review process, including all associated tables, graphics, and supplemental material. The manuscript does not include publisher stylistic edits/copyediting.
- Publications submitted to PubMed Central must be a peer reviewed journal article.
- When does the new policy take effect?
- These changes will start with manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1st. NIH has moved this policy’s effective date from December 1, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
- Funding Acknowledgement recommendation - “This manuscript is the result of funding in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy. Through acceptance of this federal funding, NIH has been given a right to make this manuscript publicly available in PubMed Central upon the Official Date of Publication, as defined by NIH.”
Please contact Lisa Ryan (lar101@psu.edu) with any questions such as ‘open access’ publications or publication costs included in your grant submissions. NIH will not pay for open access fees because we can submit the ‘Author Accepted Manuscript’ for compliance.