NIH Public Access Policy (2025)

NIH Commitment to Open Access

Researchers who receive a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) must make their papers freely available to the public. Once papers are accepted, authors are required to upload their papers into PubMed Central so that they can be freely accessible to the public, researchers, and scholars.  

2025 Update to NIH's Public Access Policy

Until recently, NIH policy granted researchers a 12-month embargo period before requiring them to submit their papers to PubMed Central. To accelerate public access to the latest research, NIH has eliminated the embargo period, and authors are responsible for making their papers available upon acceptance for publication. The new policy will apply to all articles accepted to peer-reviewed journals on or after July 1, 2025.

This shift in policy matters to you, most importantly because of financial funding. The NIH has a long policy of delaying the processing of non-competing renewal awards until all publications relevant to the award are brought into compliance. This policy has existed since 2013, but the new deadline means it is important to act quickly to make all publications compliant. 

Helpful Links For Your NIH Submission

• BU Libraries AskALibrarian Service
• Public Access Frequently Asked Questions
• NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) System
• Tutorials for the NIHMS System
• Publishers' Policies on Submitting to PMC
• Journals that Automatically Submit Articles
• PMID/PMCID Converter
• The Difference Between PMCID and PMID
• NIH 2023 Data Management & Sharing Policy