NIH Public Access Policy

      The NIH Public Access Policy requires that all peer-reviewed journal articles arising from NIH funds are posted to PubMed Central. You must have evidence of compliance with the public access policy for all peer-reviewed papers upon acceptance for publication. Be proactive to maintain your funding! Develop your compliance plan while you are preparing your manuscript.

How to Comply

Compliance starts with journal selection. You must ensure your journal of choice offers a copyright agreement that is in compliance with the NIH mandate. Notify your publisher that you have to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy, and Ask-a-Librarian for assistance.

1. Identify the appropriate deposit method for your journal of choice (Methods A, B, C, or D).

2. Investigators must use My NCBI to deposit work and enter publications into progress reports upon acceptance for publication.

Copyright Considerations from the NIH: 

Authors own the original copyrights to materials they write. Consistent with individual arrangements with authors’ employing institutions, authors often transfer some or all of these rights to the publisher when the journal agrees to publish their paper. Some publishers may ask authors to transfer these rights when the paper is first submitted to the journal. Authors should work with the publisher before any rights are transferred to ensure that all conditions of the NIH Public Access Policy can be met. Authors should avoid signing any agreements with publishers that do not allow the author to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. 

Non-compliance

The NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy.

• Check if your article is in compliance.
• If your article has already been published and is not in compliance:
  • Read your copyright agreement from the publisher or use Sherpa/Romeo to check on the publisher's policy. Does the publisher allow for deposit in PMC or a public repository? It is unlikely that your journal of choice will prevent compliance. If you find that your publishing agreement does not allow deposit, you will want to contact your publisher immediately and request written permission. 
  • Your publishing agreement may allow deposit with an embargo period. Establish when your article will be allowed to be available to the public. Prior to 2026, this embargo period may last no longer than one year from the official date of publication. If your article was published more than a year previous, no embargo period will apply to the publication. As of December 31, 2025, the article must be available upon the date of publication. 
  • Utilize Method C to deposit your manuscipt to PubMed Central as soon as possible.