On July 1st, 2025, the new NIH Public Access Policy went into effect. This policy requires author-accepted manuscripts resulting from active NIH awards to be deposited in PubMed Central (PMC) without embargo by the official date of publication.

Since July, some publishers have asked authors to sign publication agreements requiring a 12-month embargo, which conflicts with the NIH policy. In addition, these publishers have informed NIH-funded authors that the only pathway to compliance is to select an open access pathway and pay the associated article processing charge (APC).

While the NIH policy does allow for publication costs to be included in a grant, as either direct or indirect costs, some authors with active awards may not have budgeted for publication fees. If their manuscripts were accepted after July 1st, they must comply with the new policy, but may not have funds available to pay APCs.

In such cases, the Library recommends authors consider these options:

• Reason with the journal publisher. Explain the conflict with the NIH Public Access Policy and request they drop the 12 month embargo from the publication agreement.
• Withdraw the manuscript and resubmit to a journal meeting one of the following criteria:
  • Journals that do not require embargoes, such as BMJ.
  • Journals on PMC Journal List that currently deposit all their articles into PMC without embargo. Be sure to review the specific journal record to confirm that the Release Delay is 0 months (Immediate Release) and the Agreement Status is Active.
  • Journals that have agreements with Brown to waive open-access fees for our researchers.
  • Open-access journals that have no fees or may charge comparatively low publication fees, such as society journals with discounts for members.

For more information about this issue please, visit the Authors Alliance NIH Public Access Policy FAQ. You can also email HealthSciLibrarians@brown.edu with any questions.