What is a public access mandate?
Research funders and organizations are increasingly adopting mandates that encourage or require researchers to make their research findings freely and publicly accessible. A "public" or "open" access mandate or policy usually refers to a policy of a research funding agency, foundation or institution.
NIH Public Access Policy
The NIH Public Access Policy was established by the National Institutes of Health in 2008 and was updated in 2024. The current policy applies to NIH-funded research manuscripts that are accepted for publication on or after July 1, 2025. These manuscripts must be deposited in National Library of Medicine's digital archive, PubMed Central (PMC), on the date of publication, without an embargo period.
Please see the following sites for more information, or reach out to the Research Data and Open Scholarship (RDOS) group at the Library for assistance.
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NIH Public Access WebsiteDetails and links to more information about the 2024 NIH Public Access policy
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NIH FAQ'sNIH's Public Access Policy Frequently Asked Questions page
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Weill Cornell NIH Public Access Policy helpInformation and help with publishing and submitting papers under the NIH Public Access Policy
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Author's Alliance FAQ'sNIH Public Access Policy Frequently Asked Questions from the Author's Alliance
Other funders with public access mandates
Federal funders in the United States
With the 2013 OSTP Public Access mandate, research funded by many government agencies must now be made publicly available, with some private funders adopting similar policies. Keep in mind that publishing in an open access journal does not necessarily satisfy compliance with these policies and may not necessary for compliance. Rather, these policies require the deposit of research publications and data in particular open repositories, regardless of the type of journal in which they have been published. See specific policies for more information.
cOAlition S funders
cOAlition S, an alliance of research funding and performing institutions, consists primarily (but not exclusively) of European organizations. US members include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Their plan S requires member-funded research to be published in open access journals or on open access platforms, with no embargo. The Journal Checker Tool is useful for determining whether a publication option meets plan S requirements.
Open Access policies and statements
Open access policies, statements and resolutions from a number of organizations and institutions, including Cornell University.
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Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and HumanitiesThe Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities of 22 October 2003 is one of the milestones of the Open Access movement.
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Bethesda Statement on Open Access PublishingThis 2003 statement drafted by the biomedical research community defines open access and supports open access publishing.
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Budapest Open Access InitiativeThis 2001 initiative launched by the Open Society Institute established a foundation of open access principles relating to research literature.
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Sherpa Juliet funder open access policy databaseThis searchable database provides information about the open access publishing and archiving policies of many key funding agencies.
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Sherpa Romeo publisher open access policy databaseThis searchable database provides information about the open access publishing and archiving policies of publishers and individual journals.
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World Bank Open Access PolicyThe World Bank recognizes an open access policy for its published documents and reports.
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Open access and scholarly communication initiatives and statements at CornellThis collection contains documents related to open access and scholarly communication initiatives and statements at Cornell, such as statements, assembly resolutions and actions, etc. These documents are provided for historical interest only, and should not be considered definitive university records.