NIH Public Access Policy Update - Effective July 1, 2025

Dear Colleagues,

The NIH has announced that the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy will now take effect on July 1, 2025, moving up the original implementation date of December 31, 2025.

This updated policy requires that peer-reviewed manuscripts resulting from NIH-funded research be made immediately and freely available upon publication, with no embargo period, beginning with articles accepted on or after July 1, 2025.

Read the full NIH announcement here: NOT-OD-25-047.

To support the MSU research community in preparing for this change, the MSU Libraries offers some helpful resources:

• U.S. Federal Public Access Policies
• MSU Support of Open Access

Researchers are encouraged to consider the new requirements when planning where to publish. Confirming at the submission stage that a journal’s terms of publication allow compliance will help avoid issues later. There may be some publishers/journals whose publishing policies do not align with the new federal policies.   While publishing in a fully open access journal is not required under the federal policy (manuscript deposit in PubMed Central suffices), doing so ensures compliance and may offer additional benefits.  The resources linked above include many opportunities for MSU authors to publish open access at no cost to them, thanks to MSU Libraries’ agreements with publishers.

We encourage all researchers with current or anticipated NIH funding to review these resources and begin planning for compliance with the upcoming policy changes. If you have questions or need additional support, please contact Susan Kendall at skendall@msu.edu.