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NIH Public Access Policy

A guide to assist faculty and research administrators with the policy details and resources available for complying with the NIH Public Access Policy.

Upcoming Update to the NIH Public Access Policy

Effective July 1, 2025, a revised version of the NIH Public Access Policy will be implemented. While most elements of the policy remain unchanged, a key update eliminates the previous 12-month embargo period. As a result, all peer-reviewed publications arising from NIH-funded research must be made immediately available to the public via PubMed Central upon publication.

Please note: The current policy, including the 12-month embargo, will continue to apply to manuscripts accepted before July 1, 2025.

For more information, please see the following Notice Number: NOT-OD-25-101 and the Public Access Policy website. 

What is the NIH Public Access Policy?

 The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research.

  1. It requires scientists to submit final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the digital archive PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication.  
  2. To help advance science and improve human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.

Information for KUMC Investigators

  How does the NIH Public Access Policy impact KUMC investigators?

For non-competing continuation grant awards with a start date of July 1, 2013 or beyond:

  1. NIH will delay processing of an award if publications arising from it are not in compliance with the NIH public access policy. 
  2. Investigators will need to use My NCBI to enter papers onto progress reports.  Papers can be associated electronically using the RPPR, or included in the PHS 2590 using the My NCBI generated PDF report.

Source: NOT-OD-13-042