NIH Public Access Policy

As mentioned in the "Open Access Does Not Equal Public Access" page of this guide, green open access (OA) refers to the authors accepted manuscript, not the final, copy edited, published journal's version.

Under green OA, authors are allowed to deposit the authors manuscript into their repository of choice -- an institutional repository or a funder-specified respository like PubMed Central (PMC). This action is usually completed by the authors or their delegates, not the journal or the publisher. Look for instructions on "self archiving" or "green open access" at publishers' sites. 

Some publishers or journals will allow authors to deposit their manuscript (usually the authors accepted manuscript) into a federal or institutional repository with no embargo period and with no fees for the right to self archive in these repositories. These policies are compatible with the NIH Public Access policy's requirement for deposit of the AAM with no embargo to PubMed Central. Be sure to read the publisher or journal's instructions for self archiving the AAM, as some publishers require you to include a link to the published version in the document version of record, or may have other language you should include in your manuscript.

We are working on a list of publishers and journals that have zero embargo green open access policies. This list will be displayed here and will be updated as frequently as we are made aware of these publishers' or journals' zero embargo green OA policies.

Publishers

AAAS / Science

"Authors of peer-reviewed research can post the Accepted Version to the public repository of their choice. Additionally, authors of peer-reviewed research articles can post the Accepted Version of their work, along with a link to the Final Published Version on the Science Website, to the public repository or their choice for public release immediately upon publication by AAAS... authors should include a hyperlink to the Final Published Version on the Science Website, along with an explanatory note that includes the full citation, as follows: “This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in [Science
Journal Title] on [date]; DOI: [insert DOI number].” "

American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)

"The Author Accepted Manuscript is permitted to be deposited in PMC and made available to the public on or after the first online publication date of the Version of Record...If the corresponding author is an AACR Active Member and the article is not published under an open access license, AACR will, upon author request, deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript in PMC on the author's behalf. All other authors must self-deposit the Author Accepted Manuscript in PMC." 

JAMA and JAMA Network

"JAMA and all the journals in the JAMA Network permit authors of original research articles to deposit their accepted manuscript in a public repository of their choosing on the date of acceptance provided that it is not made publicly available until the date of publication."

Karger

"As a service to authors, Karger Publishers submits the accepted, unedited version of NIH-funded manuscripts to PMC on the authors’ behalf. Where the authors have made their paper Open Access under Karger’s Author’s Choice™ service, the Version of Record will be submitted upon publication."

Wolters Kluwer / Lippincott

"Authors supported by funders who mandate open access publication, but do not fund the Gold open access route may deposit their final peer-reviewed manuscript (or “author accepted manuscript (AAM)”) in their institutions or other non-commercial repository. This allows them to make it publicly available after an embargo period."

HOWEVER, for the NIH:
"Authors can comply with this policy by publishing their article as open access. In such cases, the journal will deposit the final published article to PubMed Central on behalf of the authors, ensuring public availability without embargo on the official date of publication.
If the article is not published as open access, authors can comply by depositing their accepted manuscript to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication."

Journals