The National Institutes of Health has the longest-standing Public Access Policy for a U.S. federal research-funding agency (policy established 2008), and served as a model for many other policies when the OSTP directed other federal funding agencies to develop public access plans in early 2013. The NIH is a major source of funding for UC San Diego Research.
In short, the NIH Public Access Policy is an open access mandate requiring that research papers describing research funded by the National Institutes of Health must be available to the public for free through PubMed Central within 12 months of publication. Failure to comply with this mandate can jeopardize continued and future funding.
NIH has issued a new Data Management and Sharing policy, effective January 25, 2023. This policy promotes data sharing in order to accelerate biomedical research. Researchers and institutions are expected to:
Further information to assist UC San Diego researchers with understanding the new requirements is available at UC San Diego Libraries' NIH Public Access Policy guide. NIH's comprehensive guidance on the new policy is available at sharing.nih.gov.
NIH indicates that it anticipates no changes to its new Data Management and Sharing policy as a result of the 2022 OSTP memo on public access to the results of federally-funded research.
Scope |
Applies to final peer-reviewed manuscripts funded directly by NIH. |
Applies to peer-reviewed Manuscripts supported in whole or in part by NIH funding. Policy applies regardless of whether non-NIH funds contributed to developing or writing the Manuscript. |
Key Definitions |
N/A |
Manuscript: 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. Official Date of Publication: The date on which the article is first made available in final, edited form, whether in print or electronic ( i.e., online) format. |
Policy Requirement |
Requires submission of the final peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication. NIH makes manuscripts available within 12 months of the official date of publication. |
Requires Submission of the final peer-reviewed Manuscript to PubMed Central upon its acceptance for publication, for public availability without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication. A statement in the Manuscript acknowledging federal funding. When a Manuscript is submitted to NIH, providing NIH with a standard license that mirrors that of the Government Use License at 45 CFR 75.322(b), explicitly granting NIH the right to make the Manuscript publicly available through PubMed Central without embargo upon the Official Date of Publication. |
Rights in Manuscripts |
In FAQs, NIH provides sample language an author or institution might add to a copyright agreement with a journal. In addition, authors submitting Manuscripts to PubMed Central must agree to the NIH Manuscript Submission Statement that, in part, allows NIH to tag the Manuscript and make it available on PubMed Central. |
NIH proposes:
|
Compliance and Enforcement |
The awardee institution is responsible for complying with the terms and conditions of the award. NIH may take one or more enforcement actions, depending on the severity and duration of the non-compliance. |
NIH proposes to maintain the same pathways to compliance as under the current policy but adds that non-compliance with the requirement to properly communicate and acknowledge federal funding is itself a violation of the terms and conditions of award and may result in non-compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. |
Effective Date |
April 7, 2008 |
October 1, 2025, subject to public comment period before finalization. |
2024-06 Table by Agnes Balla, Director for Research Policy Analysis and Coordination, University of California, Office of the President
Versions:
Compliance and Submission Resources: