The 2024 Updated NIH Public Access Policy is now applicable to peer-reviewed journal articles accepted for publication on or after July 01, 2025. The free pathway to compliance can be achieved by submitting the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) to PubMed Central (PMC) for public availability upon the official date of publication without embargo. Under the 2008 Policy, NIH allowed a 12-month embargo period for public availability.
In response to the zero embargo for the 2024 Policy, publishers have updated their policies and support NIH-funded authors. Some publishers are zero-embargo friendly and allow NIH-funded authors to comply using their AAM with a zero embargo. Examples of zero-embargo friendly publishers are: Sage, JAMA, BMJ, Lippincott, and others. However, many of these zero-embargo friendly publishers are no longer doing the submission of the AAM to NIHMS/PMC on behalf of authors. BMJ is one of the few that will submit the AAM to NIHMS/PMC upon acceptance of publication on behalf of NIH-funded authors.
Authors need to be prepared to self-submit their AAM to NIHMS/PMC upon acceptance of publication unless they confirm that the publisher will do the submission on their behalf. Likewise, Becker Library offers a submission service to NIHMS/PMC for WashU authors. Please reach out to Cathy Sarli or Amy Suiter.
Other publishers are not happy with the zero embargo for the 2024 Policy. These publishers are informing authors that they must publish the article under an Open Access license to be compliant with the Policy which requires an Article Processing Charge (APC). The NIH states that compliance with the Policy does not require the payment of an Open Access fee to a journal: “The free pathway to compliance can be achieved by depositing the Author Accepted Manuscript into PubMed Central for public availability upon the Official Date of Publication without embargo.” NIH also reiterates the following:
- Authors should communicate with publishers and journals to ensure they understand that NIH has a right to make AAMs publicly available upon the official date of publication. One way to do this is to add the NIH Rights Statement in the manuscript.
- There is no requirement as to a specific publishing model (i.e., Open Access) or specific license (i.e., Creative Commons).
- There is no fee or APC required for compliance.
- Journal fees that arise during the publication process for the sole purpose of submitting the AAM to NIHMS/PMC are not allowable costs.
Some publishers are reacting to the zero embargo by switching from a subscription publication model to an Open Access (Gold) publication model which requires an APC. Yet other publishers are quiet. We expect to learn more over the upcoming months.
Be on the lookout for those changes – journals you have published with in the past may be changing business models and policies for NIH-funded authors. Authors can check the journal website or the publication agreement, reach out to the journal or send us an email—we will confirm policies for WashU NIH-funded authors.
WashU authors may also want to check our new WashU APC Waiver Finder to find journals covered under WashU Publisher Agreements that provide a waiver or discount of APCs for WashU Corresponding Authors to publish articles under an Open Access license. There are over 3,000 journals from over 18 publishers that offer a waiver or discount of the Article Processing Charge.
Before you submit your NIH-supported manuscript for peer review, make sure you understand your rights and responsibilities. See: The 2024 Updated NIH Public Access Policy is in Effect: Requirements and NIH Rights Statement.
Stay tuned for other updates on the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy.