The NIH Public Access Policy requires authors who receive NIH funding to make their peer-reviewed manuscripts freely available in PubMed Central (PMC) within a year of publication.
The policy applies to any manuscript that:
If your manuscript meets this criteria, you must deposit the postprint into PubMed Central (PMC) to make it freely available within 12 months of publication.
NOTE: The U.S. White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a memo in August 2022 that recommends that all federal agencies update their public access policies by December 31, 2025. The new OSTP guidance would remove the current 12-month embargo period to make all federally funded publications and related data immediately available. In the meantime, continue to comply with the current NIH public access policy as usual.
Before signing any of your author rights away to the publisher, make sure that your publishing agreement states that you can make your postprint freely available in PMC within 12 months after publication. To do this, either:
There are four different methods for depositing your manuscript into PMC. The method you follow depends on your journal or publisher. If you’re not sure which method applies to you, refer to the NIH's page Determine Submission Method.
My Bibliography is a tool available in My NCBI that allows you to add citations and link awards to those citations. Once you link your eRA Commons account to My NCBI, you’ll also be able to track the compliance status of your citations in My Bibliography.
With citations and awards added to My Bibliography, you'll be able to create a Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) that shows compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
For information on other public access policies: