Early implementation date for the new National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on April 30, 2025 an accelerated implementation date for the updated Public Access Policy (released December 17, 2024). It will now go into effect July 1, 2025. Like the current policy, it applies to peer-reviewed journal articles from all research funded in whole or in part by NIH. 

The updated NIH Public Access Policy advances the NIH’s long standing prioritization of providing public access to NIH funded research. NIH’s 2023 Data Management and Sharing Policy remains in effect and will not change based on this new implementation date.

The Public Access Policy applies to all grants, including those awarded prior to the implementation date.

Starting July 1, 2025, investigators are required to submit the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) or Final Published Article for any peer-reviewed journal article based on research funded, in whole or in part, by NIH grants into PubMed Central (PMC) immediately upon the Official Date of Publication. 

When submitting to NIH, authors must also agree to a license similar to the Government Use License (2 CFR 200.315), explicitly granting NIH the right to make the AAM publicly available in PMC, with no embargo, on the Official Date of Publication.

The policy defines: 

• Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) as the “author’s final version that has been accepted for journal publication and includes all revisions resulting from the peer review process, including all associated tables, graphics, and supplemental material.”
• Final Published Article as the “journal’s authoritative copy, including journal or publisher copyediting and stylistic edits, and formatting changes, even prior to the compilation of a volume or issue or the assignment of associated metadata.”
• Official Date of Publication 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.”