Federal Public Access Policies

The NIH public access policy will go into effect on July 1, 2025, and governs any author accepted manuscript accepted for publication in a journal that is the result of funding by NIH in whole or in part through a grant or cooperative agreement, including training grants, a contract, an Other Transaction, NIH intramural research, or the official work of an NIH employee. Author accepted manuscripts meeting this qualification and with acceptance dates on or after July 1, 2025, are subject to the Policy. 

In short, the Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH-funded research. It requires authors to submit final peer reviewed journal manuscripts that result from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central. The Policy requires that these final peer reviewed manuscripts be accessible to the public on PubMed Central to help advance science and improve human health.  

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 NIH, 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. 

Note that “Noncompliance with the NIH Public Access Policy may be considered by NIH regarding future funding decisions for the recipient institution (e.g., as authorized in the NIH GPS 8.5, Specific Award Conditions and Remedies for Noncompliance (Specific Award Conditions and Enforcement Actions)). Non-competing continuation grant awards are subject to a delay in award processing for noncompliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.” 

The Final NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing went into effect on January 25, 2023. This policy meets the data management and sharing requirements outlined by the 2022 Nelson Memo, meaning that no new requirements are going to be created to meet the memo's requirements.

When does this go into effect?

• The policy went into effect on January 25, 2023. This means that any competing grant applications that were submitted to the NIH on January 25, 2023, or after must abide by this policy.
• All NIH grants that are expected to generate scientific data will have information in the Notice of Funding Opportunity about the requirement to write a Data Management and Sharing Plan. The NIH keeps an updated list of the activity codes that the NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy applies, depending on if they are deemed to generate scientific data.
• It is important to know that a specific NIH Institute, Center, or Office (ICO) may have more detailed data management and sharing requirements for grant awardees that go above the baseline requirements of the Data Management and Sharing Policy. For example, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) requires all traumatic brain injury research that meet specific requirements to submit data on an annual basis into the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR) Informatics System.

Who does this apply to?

The DMS Policy applies to all research, funded or conducted in whole or in part by the NIH, that results in the generation of scientific data. The Principal Investigator (PI) bears the responsibility to follow the NIH's policy on data management and sharing. The entire project team on the grant should take part in ensuring that the data is appropriately managed and shared, but the final responsibility is on the PI.  

How do I comply?

Compliance with the DMS Policy requires:

• Submission of a Data Management and Sharing Plan that outlines how scientific data and any accompanying metadata will be managed and shared, while taking into account any potential restrictions or limitations.
• For extramural awards (most research grants for researchers outside of the NIH) fulfilling the Data Management and Sharing Plan becomes a Term and Condition of the Notice of Award. Failure to comply with the Terms and Conditions may result in an enforcement action, including additional special terms and conditions or termination of the award, and may affect future funding decisions for the recipient's institution.
• Scientific data must be made accessible as soon as possible, and no later than the time of an associated publication, or at the end of the performance period, whichever comes first.
• The NIH accepts that not all data can be shared, but they do require researchers to justify in their Data Management and Sharing Plan why they are unable to share a part or all of the data.
• Sharing upon request is no longer an accepted practice. Data must be shared through an established repository, specifically one that aligns with the Desirable Characteristics of Data Repositories for Federally Funded Research.
• We highly suggest looking at the Penn Libraries NIH Data Management & Sharing Plan (DMSP) Guide for detailed requirements of the Data Management and Sharing Policy, what should be included in the Data Management and Sharing Plan, and data repository options for sharing your data. There is also a recording of the "Complying with the NIH Data Management Sharing Plan Workshop." 

For researchers whose scholarly manuscripts are the result of research funded in whole or in part by the NIH, please consult the following requirements. These impact all publication agreements signed on or after July 1, 2025.  

What is required?

1. Manuscript deposit: If a manuscript resulting from NIH funding is accepted by a journal, the author accepted manuscript (AAM) must be submitted to PubMed Central to be made publicly accessible upon publication without embargo. Alternatively, in some cases, publishers may directly deposit the final published article in lieu of the author accepted manuscript. More instructions about deposit methods can be found below in “How do I comply?"
2. Acknowledgement statement: The author accepted manuscript – and the final published article – must include in the text an acknowledgement of federal funding. Examples of how to craft this statement can be found in GPS 4.2.1 and GPS 8.2.1.
3. Agreeing to Government Use License: During the deposit, the researcher must agree to the standard Government Use License which grants NIH the right to make the manuscript available via PubMed Central.

When do I comply?

The manuscript must be submitted to PubMed Central by the official date of publication, which the NIH defines as “the date on which the Final Published Article is first made available in final, edited form, whether in print or electronic (i.e., online) format.” Starting on July 1, 2025, the work cannot be embargoed; this is the biggest change between the 2008 and the 2024 NIH public access policy. 

How do I comply?

The NIH provides four methods to submit to PubMed Central. Full instructions and tutorials are available on the NIH website but are briefly described below. 

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My grant was only partially funded by the NIH. Do I still need to follow these requirements?  

Yes, the NIH public access policy applies to all manuscripts and data which arise from NIH funding, whether that funding is in whole or in part.      

The principal investigator and/or project director listed on my NIH grant is not a co-author on my manuscript. Do I still need to follow these requirements?  

Yes, the NIH public access policy applies to all manuscripts and data which arise from NIH funding, even if the PI and/or project director is not listed as a co-author on your manuscript. 

My grant status has been terminated. Do I still need to follow the public access requirements that I agreed to in the Terms and Conditions of my award?  

None of the obligations of the award are changed due to the termination. Data collected as of the termination date must be treated consistently with the proposed Data Management and Sharing Plan.  Please contact your ORS post-award administrator and your NIH program officer directly if you have specific questions about your award.  

Can I use NIH funds to pay for publishing costs?  

It depends. NIH does not permit funds to be used for any fees which may be levied to submit an author accepted manuscript (AAM) to PubMed Central.    

However, funds may be used to pay for other “reasonable costs”, including article processing charges (APCs) which publishers charge to make final published articles open access.    

It is important to keep in mind that many APCs are already covered by Penn’s open access agreements with publishers, and if an APC is covered by Penn’s agreement, NIH funds cannot be used to pay for a “double charge.” If you are unsure whether or not a specific journal’s APCs are covered under Penn’s agreements, please contact your subject librarian.  

For more information, see the NIH guidance on publishing costs. 

I have not yet submitted my manuscript to a journal. How can I make sure to submit to only journals which will permit me to deposit my author accepted manuscript (AAM) into PubMed Central without embargo?  

It is very common for journals in the health sciences and social sciences to permit AAM deposits – but, unfortunately, many of these journals also impose an embargo period on author accepted manuscripts, and this is no longer permissible for manuscripts arising from NIH-funded research.

Most journals have guidelines for authors which explicitly state the journal’s position on depositing author accepted manuscripts. Look for author guidelines sections of a journal’s website and look for language around “access and sharing”, “green OA”, “deposit”, “repositories”, and other related terms. If you have any questions, please contact your subject librarian, and they can help you locate a journal’s position on author accepted manuscripts.  

Keep in mind that scholarly journals are often eager to review NIH-funded research. Even the few journals which do not permit AAM deposit without embargo may make exceptions to comply with federal requirements. If you have such a publisher in mind, contact them directly and get their stance in writing. It is also possible to negotiate with a publisher to ask for a contract which is acceptable to you. 

I signed a publishing agreement prior to July 1, 2025. Do I still need to follow the manuscript submission requirements?  

No, the 2024 NIH public access policy only applies to agreements signed on or after July 1, 2025. Works with older agreements must adhere to the 2008 NIH Public Access policy, which had previously required final peer-reviewed manuscripts to be deposited in PubMed Central, but allowed an embargo period of 12 months. 

I am having trouble uploading my manuscript to PubMed Central. Can you help?  

If you have followed the instructions above, viewed the tutorials available on the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS)’s website, and are still running into trouble, contact the National Library of Medicine’s help desk. 

My grant requires me to write a Data Management and Sharing Plan. Can Penn Libraries help me write this plan?  

Penn Libraries provides multiple support paths for writing Data Management and Sharing Plans:

1. We maintain a detailed and regularly updated NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan Guide. This guide provides a number of links to tutorials, documentation, and ways to reach out to dedicated Library staff for help.  
2. DMPTool is a free, online, open-source tool for writing Data Management and Sharing Plans using a template that assists researchers in understanding and meeting the requirements of the plans. Each federal agency has a unique template that is created to allow researchers to directly address the requirements of the Data Management and Sharing Plan. Login using your PennKey to get specific guidance and resources for Penn researchers. More information and tutorials on using DMPTool are available on the DMPTool Guide. 
3. Experts at Penn Libraries provide a robust review service for Data Management and Sharing Plans to ensure researchers meet the expectations of the funders. Plans can be submitted through DMPTool using the “Request Feedback” button on a plan or by emailing LibraryRDDS@pobox.upenn.edu. All DMP review requests should be submitted at least one week in advance of the internal grant submission deadline and will be reviewed in the order they are received. 
4. Not sure where to start, need assistance choosing a data repository, or confused with interpreting the requirements for the Data Management and Sharing Plan? Reach out to the Penn Libraries’ Research Data & Digital Scholarship unit at LibraryRDDS@pobox.upenn.edu to schedule a consultation with a librarian to help get you started.  

2024 NIH Public Access Policy: Summarizes the public comments which shaped the new policy, followed by the official 2024 NIH public access policy itself. This policy replaces the 2008 NIH public access policy.  

Revision: Notice of Updated Effective Date for the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy: Moves up the original effective date from 2025/12/31 to the new effective date of 2025/07/01.  

Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy: Government Use License and Right: Asserts the government’s right to deposit author accepted manuscripts from NIH-funded research into PubMed Central, making explicit the license used to do so. Also includes sample language for communicating public access expectations with publishers.  

Supplemental Guidance to the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy: Publication Costs: Clarifies allowable vs. non-allowable publication costs.  

NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing: Summarizes the public comments which shaped the new policy, followed by the official 2023 NIH data management and sharing policy itself. This policy replaces the 2003 NIH Data Sharing Policy.