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NIH Public Access Compliance: Understanding the New NIH Policy, 2025

This LibGuide will walk users through issues of publication compliance with the NIH

Overview

The new NIH Public Access Policy for scholarly publications went into effect for papers accepted on or after July 1, 2025 if the associated NIH funding is active on or after this date. The table below contains policy information for publishers most relevant to the CSHL research community. 

On this page:

Please bear in mind that the policy's impact on how you achieve compliance will depend on a variety factors including the publisher, journal, and publishing model that you choose for your article. To get individualized assistance on how you should comply with the updated policy, please do not hesitate to contact Katie McGuire (x6844, kmcguire@cshl.edu).  

Does the New NIH Policy Apply to Me?

Does this policy apply to me?

To determine which public access policy applies to your publication, please use the following chart:

a decision tree to determine which NIH policy applies to a publication based on if the award is closed and when the manuscript was accepted

Chart Credit: Dana Haugh, Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library, Yale (Compliance Presentation); found via Dave Hansen's Authors Alliance Article on the NIH Policy Updates 

Steps to Take to Ensure that You are In Compliance with the New Policy

There are several steps you can take to ensure compliance with the new policy. The information below was modified from guidance written by Anna Biszaha with the Ohio State Health Sciences Library and the NIH Public Access Policy Website. 

  • Review the journal's policy for NIH Public Access Compliance before you submit the paper. 
    • Our publisher policies box below provides an overview of how many key journals and publishers have responded to the new policy. 
    • If you would like additional assistance understanding a journal's policy, please feel free to reach out to the author of this guide. 
  • Disclose that the publication is NIH-funded when you submit the paper.
    • This will inform the publisher/journal that the publication needs to be made compliant with the NIH policy. 
    • This includes acknowledging the NIH grant number in the acknowledgments and/or funding section of your manuscript. 
  • Choose the most appropriate license when signing the author's agreement with the publisher. 
    • You want to ensure that you retain the necessary rights to comply with the NIH Policy. 
  • Determine what submission method will be the most appropriate for your publication. 
    • Depending on the publishing route you choose, the publisher might deposit the final published manuscript for you or you might need to deposit the Author's Accepted Manuscript into PubMed Central using NIHMS. 
  • If you have to deposit the publication yourself into PubMed Central via NIHMS, start the process as soon after acceptance as possible. 
    • Depositing a publication into PubMed Central can take up to 2-3 weeks, assuming there are no issues with the conversion process. Starting deposit as soon as possible after acceptance ensures you have time to achieve compliance before you need to report your publications to the NIH on an RPPR. 
  • Monitor the progress of your deposited publication using the My Bibliography. 
    • The My Bibliography associated with your NIH account enables you to associate grants with your publications and monitor compliance. 

The NIH has also published a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page for the new policy. 

Publisher Policies & Compatibility with Zero-Embargo

Open-access articles allow for anyone to view a research paper without a journal subscription. Some journals, like Nature Communications, are completely open access (Gold journals). Other journals, like Nature, are hybrid journals, meaning that they offer an open-access route or a subscription route for publication.

  • The Open Access Route is the option to publish a journal article open access, sometimes requiring payment of an Article Processing Charge (APC).
  • The Subscription Route option generally does not require payment of any fees to publish a paper but the paper is often only viewable to those who subscribe to the journal. 

The Author's Associated Manuscript (AAM) is the version of the publication after peer review but before publisher copyediting, typesetting, and formatting. 

The NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS) is the online portal where authors can deposit their publications into PubMed Central. For more information on depositing via NIHMS, please visit the "How Do I Make This Paper Compliant?" tab of this guide. 

 

Publisher Compatibility with New NIH Policy

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

  • Journals include Cancer Research, Cancer Discovery, etc.

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: AACR deposits the final version of the manuscript into PubMed Central without an embargo.

Subscription Route: AACR revised its policy to allow authors to deposit the AAM (via NIHMS) into PubMed Central without an embargo.  

  • If a corresponding author is an active member of AACR, the publisher can initiate the deposit on their behalf. Authors will need to approve the materials in NIHMS.

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Link to Policy

  • Science Advances
 Open Access: AAAS automatically deposits the final version into PubMed Central without an embargo. 
  • All other journals, including Science
 Subscription Route: Authors can deposit the AAM into PubMed Central via NIHMS without an embargo. 

Cell Press & Elsevier

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: Elsevier deposits the final version of the article in PubMed Central without an embargo. 

Subscription Route: Elsevier has not changed its policy to remove the embargo on subscription articles, indicating that the only pathway to compliance is by publishing open access. 

Company of Biologists

  • Journals include Development, Disease Models & Mechanisms, etc.

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: The CoB will continue to automatically deposit the final publication into PubMed Central.

  • If a CSHL researcher is not a corresponding author, then the AAM can be deposited into PubMed Central via NIHMS without an embargo. 

eLife

Link to Policy

 Open Access Route: eLife automatically deposits publications into PubMed Central without an embargo.

Frontiers Journals

  • Journals include Frontiers in Plant Science, Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, Frontiers in Genetics, etc.

Link to Policy

 Open Access Route:  Frontiers automatically deposits the final publication into PubMed Central for many biological and life sciences journals. If the journal is not automatically deposited, then the final published version can be deposited using NIHMS. 

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

  • Journals include Antioxidants & Redox Signaling, Journal of Computational Biology, etc.

Link to Policy

Open Access Route:  Mary Ann Liebert automatically deposits the final publication into PubMed Central.

  • However, depending on the journal, it might be subject to an embargo. If subject to an embargo, can deposit the AAM into PubMed Central without an embargo. 

Subscription Route: Authors can deposit the AAM into PubMed Central via NIHMS without an embargo. 

MDPI

  • Journals include International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Cancers, Genes, etc.

Link to Policy

 Open Access Route:  Frontiers automatically deposits the final publication into PubMed Central for many biological and life sciences journals. If the journal is not automatically deposited in PMC, then the final published version can be deposited using NIHMS. 

National Academy of Sciences

  • Journals include PNAS

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: The NAS will continue to automatically deposit the final publication into PubMed Central.

  • If authors do not want to pay the immediate open-access fee, they can deposit the AAM into PubMed Central via NIHMS without an embargo. 

Oxford University Press

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: For some journals, Oxford automatically deposits the final publication into PubMed Central.

  • However, depending on the journal, it might be subject to an embargo. 
Subscription Route: Oxford has not modified its policies on embargoes on subscription articles, indicating that the only pathway to compliance is by publishing a paper via an open-access route. 

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Link to Policy

 Open Access Route: PLoS automatically deposits publications into PubMed Central without an embargo.

Rockefeller University Press

  • Journals include the Journal of Experimental Medicine 

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: Rockefeller deposits the final version of the manuscript into PubMed Central without an embargo. 

Subscription Route: Rockefeller permits the deposit of the AAM into PubMed Central without an embargo. 

Society for Neuroscience

  • Journals include Journal of Neuroscience and eNeuro

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: SFN will continue to automatically deposit the final publication into PubMed Central.

  • If authors do not want to pay the immediate open-access fee, they can deposit the AAM into PubMed Central via NIHMS without an embargo.

Springer Nature

  • Journals include Nature, Nature Communications, etc.

Link to Springer Nature Policy Compliance FAQs

Open Access Route: Springer Nature will continue to automatically deposit the final publication into PubMed Central without an embargo. 

  • This includes all papers published in Nature Communications

Subscription Route: Springer Nature has not modified its policies on embargoes on subscription articles (depending on the journal), indicating that the only pathway to compliance is by publishing a paper via an open-access route. 

Taylor & Francis

  • Journals include Molecular and Cellular Oncology, Cell Cycle, RNA Biology, etc.

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: Taylor & Francis will continue to selectively deposit the final publication into PubMed Central without an embargo for certain journals. If the journal does not allow for selective deposit, then the final published version can be deposited using NIHMS. 

Subscription Route: Taylor & Francis did not modify its policies on embargoes on subscription articles (depending on the journal), indicating that the only pathway to compliance is by publishing a paper via an open-access route. 

Wiley

Link to Policy

Open Access Route: Wiley will continue to automatically deposit the final publication into PubMed Central without an embargo. 

Subscription Route: Wiley's policy states that there is only one route to compliance for hybrid journals: "choose the open access publishing route". Wiley did not change their policy to permit the deposit of the AAM without an embargo.