Effective July 01, 2025: Revised NIH Public Access Policy

In the April 30, 2025 Revision: Notice of Updated Effective Date for the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy, the new effective date of the 2024 Policy is now applicable to any Author Accepted Manuscripts accepted for publication on or after July 01, 2025.

The revised NIH Public Access Policy has several implications for authors:

1. Immediate Access Requirement - Authors must ensure that their manuscripts are made available in PubMed Central immediately upon publication, without any embargo period.
2. Journal Policy Review - Before submitting a manuscript for peer review, authors should confirm that the journal's policies allow compliance with the NIH policy. If a journal has an embargo period, authors may need to negotiate with the journal to ensure their work is accessible immediately upon publication.
3. NIH Rights Statement - Authors are strongly encouraged to include the NIH Rights Statement in their manuscripts. This statement informs publishers that the work is subject to the NIH policy and that NIH has the right to make the manuscript publicly available in PubMed Central upon publication. “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.”
   Source:  Government Use License and Rights Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-049
4. No Open Access Fee Requirement - Compliance with the NIH policy does not require authors to pay an Open Access fee to the journal. Authors can achieve compliance by depositing the Author Accepted Manuscript into PubMed Central for public availability upon the official date of publication.

Overall, these changes mean that authors of NIH-funded research need to be diligent about journal policies and ensure their work complies with NIH requirements for public access.

Questions? Contact hsl@geisinger.edu.