According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in its 2024 NIH Public Access Policy, “increasing access to publications resulting from NIH funding offers many benefits to the scientific community and to the public who funded the underlying research. When patients, families, and healthcare providers can access published findings resulting from NIH funding, they can better understand and address the most critical health concerns facing their communities.”

This policy seeks to accelerate free public access to the results of NIH-funded research. It has important implications for authors of manuscripts relating to research designed and conducted by the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) with NIH funding.

Important Guidance and Reminders for ECOG-ACRIN Authors

Peer-reviewed, author accepted manuscripts (AAM) resulting from NIH funding must be submitted to PubMed Central* (PMC) as soon as they are accepted for publication and be made public immediately on the first date of publication, with no embargo period or delay. Authors of publications for the ECOG-ACRIN are therefore obligated to follow this policy, and non-compliance could jeopardize or delay funding for ECOG-ACRIN and authors’ institutions.

To remain compliant, ECOG-ACRIN recommends that authors take the following important steps:

1. Choose a journal carefully: Before submitting, confirm the journal allows you to comply with the policy, specifically for immediate public release upon publication, without embargo, and without an open access fee. If the journal charges an open access fee, check to see if your institution has a transformative agreement with the publisher where the institution pays the subsidized article processing charges (APCs).
2. Check with the journal that your publishing agreement allows for the manuscript to be posted on PMC in accordance with the policy. Authors should work with the publisher before any rights are transferred to ensure that all conditions of the NIH Public Access Policy can be met. Authors should avoid signing any agreements with publishers that do not allow the author to comply with this policy.
3. Include the NIH-required acknowledgement that was provided to you by the EA Publications Team in the body of the manuscript and/or the title page.
4. At submission, inform the journal that your manuscript is bound by the NIH Public Access Policy and clearly state the NIH’s zero-embargo policy.

Who makes the PMC submission? 

One of the most important steps in remaining compliant is determining who is responsible for the PubMed Central submission. Do not assume the journal will complete this step on your behalf.

Verify with the journal whether they will deposit the final published article into PMC or upload your AAM into the NIH Manuscript Submission portal (NIHMS). Many journals are discontinuing this service, so if they do not provide this option, you are responsible for uploading the AAM to the NIHMS at the time of acceptance.

After your AAM is uploaded to NIHMS, by either the journal, yourself, or a designee, you will receive two separate emails from NIHMS directing you to review and approve the uploaded files and, later, the PMC-formatted PDF file. 

This visual contains the key information and can be printed/saved as a helpful guide:

Helpful Resources

• More information can be found at https://grants.nih.gov/policy-and-compliance/policy-topics/public-access
• The policy guidance is posted at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-049.html
• Submissions to NIHMS are made at https://www.nihms.nih.gov/submission
• Contact the EA Publications Team at [email protected] for questions.

* PubMed Central differs from PubMed. PubMed is a database of citations and abstracts, while PubMed Central is a free archive of full-text journal articles and author manuscripts.