Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to share an important update regarding open access communications.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a shift in the timeline for implementing its updated Public Access Policy that requires immediate public access to all peer-reviewed articles resulting from NIH funding. The revised policy will now be effective for all manuscripts accepted on or after July 1, 2025. This new effective date requires that NIH-funded researchers comply with the revised NIH’s public access policy six months earlier than anticipated. 

Here is what you need to know:

  • All peer-reviewed articles from NIH-funded research must be publicly available in PubMed Central (PMC) as soon as they are published — there is no longer a 12-month embargo.
  • You must submit either:
    • The Author’s Accepted Manuscript (AAM), or
    • The final published version, if your journal deposits it for you.
  • The policy is applicable to all grants, contracts, cooperative agreements, and other transaction-type agreements.
  • Authors must cite NIH funding.
  • Depositing an AAM in PMC is free of charge.
  • Allowable costs [e.g., Article Processing Charges (APCs)] may be charged to grants before closeout.
  • Post-closeout costs are not allowed.
  • Submission fees paid to third-party PMC services are not reimbursable.
  • Deposits to institutional repositories are welcome — as long as AAMs are also deposited in PMC.

The primary change for those with NIH funds is that author-accepted manuscripts must be deposited in PubMed Central and made publicly available as of the official date of publication without embargo. Fortunately, many publishers have mechanisms in place to support compliance with existing NIH mandates, and they will likely move to accommodate the new “without embargo” policy over the coming months. Individual authors can negotiate the ability to comply with the policy directly with their publishers.

Additionally, the Hesburgh Libraries has recently expanded open access publishing options for campus researchers in significant ways. The Libraries has entered into transformative agreements with major publishers including Springer Nature (3/21/2024), Elsevier (1/14/2025), Taylor & Francis (1/1/2025), and Wiley (1/1/2025). Faculty can use these agreements to publish open access without paying APCs, which will support compliance with the NIH policy as well as with anticipated future policy directives from other federal grant funding agencies. Terms and article caps vary. Learn more details about transformative agreements available through the Hesburgh Libraries.

The Hesburgh Libraries also has a team of open access experts who are ready to support faculty as they consider how they want to comply with these latest regulations. They can be contacted at hl-oa-publishing-list@nd.edu. More information on Open Access Publishing at Notre Dame is available on the library website. 

Additionally, the Hesburgh Libraries, in conjunction with Notre Dame Research, is offering workshops to address compliance with these new requirements on the following dates:

Wednesday, June 4 (3-4 p.m.)

Friday, June 6 (1-2 p.m.)

Tuesday, June 10 (9:30-10:30 a.m.)

Monday, June 16 (2-3 p.m.)

Details and registration information are included in the event links above.

It is important to note that the revised timeline does not explicitly mention immediate public access to research data generated through NIH grant funding, but grant awardees should plan to make their data publicly accessible upon completion of their grants. More information on open access requirements for federal grants is available in the Office of Science and Technology Policy briefing from August 2022. We understand that these changes are coming much sooner than expected, and we want to assure you that we are here to support you and your research, scholarship, and creative endeavor. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, concerns, or feedback. 

Sincerely,

Margaret Meserve
Interim Edward H. Arnold Dean, Hesburgh Libraries and University of Notre Dame Press
Vice President and Associate Provost for Academic Space and Support
Professor of History

Jeffrey F. Rhoads
John and Catherine Martin Family Vice President for Research
Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

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