American Chemical Society (ACS) - Short-Term Program for NIH-Funded Work

To support the scientific community and allow time for adjustment to the updated NIH Public Access Policy (now effective July 1, 2025), ACS Publications has launched a short-term program that provides ACS-sponsored zero-embargo green open access for NIH-funded work.

This program is automatic and applicable for any NIH-funded corresponding author not covered by an institutional OA agreement and who submits a manuscript to any ACS hybrid journal by August 31, 2025. Manuscripts already in progress also qualify. This will provide authors with the ability to immediately deposit the accepted manuscript in PubMed Central to comply with the updated NIH policy.

How to take advantage of this program:

After acceptance, authors will receive a ‘Journal Publishing Agreement’ prompt referencing the institution they are affiliated with and asking if they wish to retain copyright. NIH-funded authors will simply need to choose, “Yes, I wish to retain copyright and be allowed to immediately deposit the manuscript.” During this sponsored period, there will be no publication cost for the author, while still enabling immediate green OA publishing; ACS Publications will cover the standard Article Development Charge during this period.

Authors in need of support may direct questions to the ACS Publications Open Access Team (oaops@acs.org).