The 2024 Updated NIH Policy removed the 12-month embargo and requires Author Accepted Manuscripts (AAM) to be made publicly available in PubMed Central (PMC) upon the official date of publication.
“The NIH Public Access Policy requires Author Accepted Manuscripts accepted for publication in a journal, on or after July 1, 2025, to be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication.”
Compliance with the Policy may be achieved through either:
- Submission of the electronic version of the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to PubMed Central upon its acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication, or
- Submission of the Final Published Article to PubMed Central from journals or publishers with formal agreements with NLM, upon the Official Date of Publication, for public availability without embargo.
Applicable works are submitted to the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS) by authors, their delegates, or publishers to prepare for posting to PubMed Central (PMC) and assignment of a PMCID.
A Responsible Author must complete two approval steps in NIHMS and they must ensure that 0 months is selected for the release delay (embargo) to be compliant with the 2024 Updated NIH Policy. See below Manuscript Overview from NIHMS.
If a publisher submits an Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to NIHMS with a 12-month embargo instead of a zero embargo, NIHMS offers options that enable authors to comply with the zero embargo requirements of the 2024 Updated NIH Policy.
- During the first initial approval step, the Responsible Author can select “Yes,” confirming the work is within the scope of the policy. This will unlock the release delay, and the Responsible Author can change the embargo from 12 to zero months. See below NIHMS interface image and Updates to the NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) System.
- If the Responsible Author has completed the first approval step, the Responsible Author (or any person) can email NIHMS and ask that the record for the work be returned to the processing stage. The Responsible Author can review the submission record again to confirm whether the work is within the scope of the 2024 Updated NIH Policy and note the appropriate embargo of zero months The email address for NIHMS (NLM) support is: nlm-support@nlm.nih.gov. Include the full citation for the work. NIHMS will email the Responsible Author prompting them to review the submission record for the work to change the embargo period. (Source: NIHMS email correspondence: May 27, 2026)
- Authors can also override a publisher-submitted work that has a 12-month embargo by submitting an Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to NIHMS. A message from NIHMS will display that it may be a possible duplicate submission–ignore the message. If you need assistance submitting an AAM, please see Becker Library NIHMS Submission Services.
NIHMS is working to update their resources to reflect these options but their tutorials may not be current.
Please report any issues with publishers to your Program Officer or funding agency.
WashU
Public Access
Becker Library
2024 NIH Public Access Policy
Checklist for NIH-funded Authors