The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reaffirmed its commitment to transparency in research by updating the effective date for its 2024 Public Access Policy. This new policy will take effect July 1, 2025, replacing the 2008 version.
What does this mean for you?
If you’re involved in NIH-funded research—including through grants, cooperative agreements (including training grants), contracts, or NIH intramural research—any peer reviewed manuscript accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025 must comply with this updated policy.
Key Points to Know:
- The policy applies to all NIH-supported research, whether the funding is partial or full.
- Manuscripts accepted for publication, the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM), on or after July 1, 2025 must be made publicly available immediately upon acceptance for publication in PubMed Central (PMC) immediately, with no embargo period.
Key Requirements
To comply with the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy on or after July 1, 2025:
- Deposit: The Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM), which includes all revisions from peer review, must be deposited to PubMed Central as soon as it is accepted for publication.
- Immediate Public Access: The AAM must be publicly accessible through PubMed Central immediately upon publication. No embargo period is allowed.
- License Agreement: Authors must agree to the standard government use license when submitting the AAM to PubMed Central (PMC).
- Demonstrate Compliance: Cite the PMCID in all NIH progress reports, applications, and proposals.
Submission Process:
Suggested steps for all peer reviewed manuscripts supported by NIH funding by University of Utah authors which have been accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. See Compliance Checklist PDF at top of page.
- Authors have confirmed with publisher that publisher will not perform the initial deposit to PMC.
- Designated author submits AAM to NIHMS. Method C submission
- Designated author will need an eRA Commons account to log into NIHMS
- Designated author should ensure their My NCBI has linked account to eRA Commons account. Tip: how to link eRA Commons account to My NCBI
- Contact OSP for eRA Commons access if designated author has no eRA Commons access.
At time of acceptance of AAM:
Authors have received manuscript acceptance email and the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM).
Designated submitter:
- Logs into NIHMS with appropriate login method - click Submit New Manuscript and follow the prompts.
- PIs– use eRA Commons login option
- Use the same login option each time you access NIH
- Add paper to My Bibliography
- Add the paper to your eRA Commons-linked My Bibliography as a forthcoming paper and associate the appropriate funding to it.
After manuscript is submitted to NIHMS:
Designated Submitter/Reviewer must complete the following steps for a citation to be assigned a PMCID:
Approve Submission: Designated Submitter, via NIHMS
Review and approve PMC-ready web version: Designated Submitter/Reviewer, via NIHMS
Note: The assigned author will receive an email notifying him/her when action is required in NIHMS. Any author, or even a Principal Investigator if they are in a position to verify the content, can serve as the assigned author. See the NIHMS FAQ to change the author assignment
My Bibliography will automatically link the forthcoming citation to the published record, and list the PMCID when it is available.
Responsible Party: NIH Awardee
Key Resources
- NIH PAP FAQs
- NIH instructions for Submitting Papers Through the NIHMS: Methods C and D Best Practices
- NIH Learning Resources for Public Access Policy
- NIHMS Tutorials (PDFs)
- NIHMS Deposit and Initial Approval Video Tutorial
- The NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) procedure is thoroughly explained in this video, including how to associate funding, upload necessary files, and approve the submission for conversion to PMC-ready papers.
- NIHMS FAQ
- NIHMS Glossary
Additional NIH PAP guidance is available through:
How can the Library help?
EHSL Library provides resources and services to assist University of Utah researchers in meeting the NIH Public Access Policy requirements. Our goal is to make compliance clear and easy. Please contact the library to schedule a consultation with a librarian about any of the following topics:
- Guidance with NIH PAP compliance
- Assistance with troubleshooting non-compliant papers
- Assistance with UU funded Open Access publishing options
- Presentations to department authors and staff
- See the list of Zero Embargo Publishers or Journals
To ensure compliance, please review resources at NIH Public Access Policy.
If you find that you have non-compliant citations, you will need to submit them to PMC. There are four different submission methods. The method you use will depend on the journal/publisher associated with each citation.
The NIH Public Access website offers overviews of the policy and the recent changes, along with help documents.
Maybe one of our other curated guides will be more helpful!
