Public Access Policy Toolkit

►The NIH has an updated 2024 Public Access Policy that went into effect on July 1st, 2025. NIH-funded articles need to be deposited into PubMed Central without embargo by authors or their publishers.

• For help navigating this policy, visit the NIH Public Access Policy webpage, read our information below, or contact the UT Libraries at impactopen@utk.edu.

• From the NIH: "On December 17, 2024, NIH issued its updated Public Access Policy. The 2024 Public Access Policy is effective for manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. Until then, NIH's current (2008) Public Access Policy remains in effect. To view the 2024 policy and supplemental guidance, please visit the NIH Office of Science Policy website."
• From ORIED: Request No-Cost Extensions Early to Respond to Updated NIH Processes

Jump to:

• Requirements
• Comparisons of Policies
• Considerations for Authors
• Submission Information
• Background

2024 NIH Public Access Policy Requirements

From the NIH notice NOT-OD-25-047:

"The NIH Public Access Policy requires:

• Submission of an electronic version of the Author Accepted Manuscript to PubMed Central upon its acceptance for publication for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication;
• An acknowledgment in the Author Accepted Manuscript and Final Published Article that satisfies the requirements in the NIH Grants Policy Statement (GPS) regarding communicating and acknowledging federal funding (GPS 4.2.1 and GPS 8.2.1), as well as analogous requirements for acknowledging federal funding as incorporated into the terms of Other Transaction agreements and applicable contracts; and
• When an Author Accepted Manuscript is submitted to NIH¹, agreeing to a standard license that mirrors that of the Government Use License at 2 CFR 200.315, or its successor regulation, explicitly granting NIH the right to make the Author Accepted Manuscript publicly available through PubMed Central without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication."

What are the general things to know about the updated 2024 NIH Public Access Policy?

The updated policy requires the submission of an electronic version of the author accepted manuscript to PubMed Central upon its acceptance for publication for public availability without embargo at the official date of publication. This differs from the previous 2008 NIH Public Access Policy which allowed for the article to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication.

What are the general things to know about the 2008 NIH Public Access Policy?

Final, peer-reviewed manuscripts must be submitted to the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS) upon acceptance for publication, and be made publicly available on PubMed Central (PMC) no later than 12 months after the official date of publication. Any author can deposit a paper in the NIHMS and manage the submission.

Note that PubMed Central is NOT the same as PubMed.  All publications in PMC are freely accessible by the public, while PubMed includes many citations for publications, but not necessarily the publications themselves.

No matter which submission method you use, the NIH Awardee is responsible for making sure the deposit into PMC is completed. (From "Advice for NIH Grantees: How to Comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.")

What should authors be aware of as they publish in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy?

• Publisher agreements
  • Review journal and publisher policies and your publisher agreements. Some publishers charge extra fees for zero-embargo deposits or do not allow for zero embargoes. Use the Open Policy Finder to see what your journal allows concerning embargoes. Consider submitting to journals that allow for zero-embargo deposit.
• Open Access journals
  • Consider publishing in fully open access journals which have no restrictions for deposits. Take advantage of Open Publishing Discounts with UTK to avoid or reduce article processing charges for open access articles.
• Grant budgets
  • Budget for open access article processing charges within your grant. Make a plan ahead of time to ensure that your article can be affordably published in compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
• Institutional repository
  • Consider depositing your article in UTK's institutional repository, TRACE, where it will be publicly accessible.

Attribution: These considerations have been informed by the Authors Alliance (2025).

Which journals make it easier to deposit to PubMed Central?

From the NIH FAQs: "Journals with an active agreement to deposit all articles can be found in the PMC Journal List, which is available at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals/. NIH recommends reviewing the specific journal record to confirm that the Release Delay is 0 months (Immediate Release) and the Agreement Status is Active. 

A journal or publisher may also deposit select articles in PMC if special arrangements are made to allow for immediate release. A list of publishers that provide this service is available from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/about/selectivedeposit/."

Overview of Submission Methods

Please visit "Submitting to PubMed Central" for more information.

Attribution: NIH (2025)

NIH Public Access Policy Background

The NIH Public Access Policy for publication sharing is the longest-standing federal public access policy. Many other funders are modeling their policies on the NIH policy and/or making use of the NIH publications repository, PubMed Central. See the NIH webpage "Public Access" for more on their history and mission.