Guide for Authors Complying with U.S.Federal Agency Public Access and Publisher Policies

In response to the 2022 OSTP memo, U.S. federal agencies now require authors to deposit their manuscripts into agency repositories, often immediately upon acceptance by a journal. Agencies do not charge a fee for authors to deposit their manuscripts, making this an easy and cost-effective compliance option. However, in response to this new federal requirement, some journal publishers require authors who receive U.S. federal funding to now pay publishing fees. 

These fees have caused concern and confusion among researchers with federal funding. This places authors in a situation where they must carefully consider publisher policies and fee requirements before making the decision about where to publish their work. It is important to understand that many publishers freely allow manuscript deposit into repositories without imposing additional charges on federally funded authors.

However, many authors were not aware of these fees when they submitted their articles for publication and find themselves having to make decisions about what to do late in the publication process—sometimes after peer review has been completed or when their article is ready for final publication.

SPARC developed this guide to help authors consider potential actions they might take at different stages of the publication process, along with additional resources they might find helpful at different stages of the funding lifecycle:

► 1) Prior to Applying for Federal Funding

Tip 1. Understand your funder(s)’ requirements

U.S. federal agencies require authors to deposit their manuscripts into agency repositories, often immediately upon acceptance by a journal. See SPARC’s Publication Sharing Resource for specific federal agency requirements.

If you have additional funding streams, there may be further requirements (such as publicly posting a preprint or specific license term requirements) to consider. 

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Tip 2. Consider publishing costs

Most federal funders allow for reasonable publication costs to be covered under the award. (Note: NIH allows for reasonable publication costs to be covered, but will not cover publishing costs that are specifically for complying with their policy. As of September 2025, NIH is actively reviewing allowable publication costs, particularly APCs.)

Consider which publishers and journals you might publish with and understand their policies for self-archiving your article accepted manuscript and if there may be any fees associated with publishing. If publishing fees are required, consider publishing elsewhere (e.g., with a society publisher or university press where fees aren’t required) or include any allowable publishing costs in your budget proposal for funder consideration. 

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► 2) Before Submitting a Federally-Funded Manuscript to a Journal

Tip 1. Understand your funder(s)’ requirements.

U.S. federal agencies require authors to deposit their manuscripts into agency repositories, often immediately upon acceptance by a journal. See SPARC’s Publication Sharing Resource for specific federal agency requirements.

If you have additional funding streams, there may be further requirements (such as publicly posting a preprint or specific license term requirements) to consider. 

Resources:

 

Tip 2. Know your rights as a recipient of federal funding.

By accepting federal funding, you grant the funding agency a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable right to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use the work (including author accepted manuscripts) for federal purposes and to authorize others to do so. This is called the Government Use or Federal Purpose License. 

The license agreement with your funder takes first priority over any subsequent agreement with the journal publisher (e.g., through the copyright transfer agreement). It acts as a “prior license” that cannot be overridden by agreements signed later in the research process, including publisher agreements that may ask for exclusive rights or impose embargo periods. Be sure you can comply with your funder’s requirements when publishing, otherwise it could impact continuation or future funding.

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Tip 3. Consider retaining rights to your article

You may want to include a rights statement in any federally funded manuscripts submitted for peer review to inform the journal/publisher that the work is subject to the public access policy of a federal funding agency and that the agency has the right to make the author accepted manuscript publicly available. For example, NIH recommends including this statement:

This manuscript is the result of funding in whole or in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy. Through acceptance of this federal funding, NIH has been given a right to make this manuscript publicly available in PubMed Central upon the Official Date of Publication, as defined by NIH.

You might also determine if you will be publishing your manuscript under an open access license (e.g., CC BY). If the article will not be published under an open license, you might consider retaining your full copyrights. 

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Tip 4. Review policies of target journals

Consider which publishers and journals you are targeting and review their policies for self-archiving your article accepted manuscript and if there are any publishing related fees (e.g., article processing charges, Gold OA fees, fees to comply with funder requirements, etc.). 

If the journal requires publishing fees, you might consider:

  • Submitting your manuscript to another publisher that does not require publishing fees. 
  • Publishing with a society publisher and university press. Many allow you to comply with your funder policy for free and you may be supporting smaller, non-profit publishers and your research communities.

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Tip 5. Understand what options are available for covering publishing costs, if needed.

Although a free manuscript submission pathway is generally available to federal grantees, you may still want to publish in a journal that charges fees or be required to pay publishing costs to comply with specific requirements. In such cases, determine: 

  • What publishing costs are allowable under your award.
  • What arrangements or agreements may exist between your library and the publisher (if you are the corresponding author).
  • Whether your institution or department has a fund to cover publishing costs. 
  • If you have co-authors, what different mechanisms of support exist at their institutions for covering such costs.

Most federal agencies allow for reasonable publication costs to be covered under the award. Note: NIH allows for reasonable publication costs to be covered, but will not cover publishing costs that are specifically for complying with their policy (e.g., the ACS Article Development Charge, which is for ACS-published articles when authors need to comply with funder public access policies without an embargo). As of September 2025, NIH is actively reviewing allowable publication costs, particularly APCs.

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Tip 6. Not sure, ask a librarian 

Reach out to your campus librarians. They are tremendous resources to help you understand funder policies, publisher requirements, publishing options, and how to manage any conflicting requirements. They can also help you determine if your institution has an open access policy that can aid in complying with funder policies. 

 

► 3) Upon Acceptance of a Federally-Funded Manuscript by a Journal

Tip 1. Review publisher’s manuscript deposit policies

Review your publisher’s policy for options to deposit/self-archive your article accepted manuscript into your funder required repository. Understand if your publisher is requesting a fee to comply with your funder’s requirements. 

Resources: 

 

Tip 2. Respond to publishing fee requests

If you’ve communicating with your journal/publish or finalizing publication, you may be asked to pay a publishing fee. You’ll need to determine if you’re willing and able to cover the requested fee (see Tip 5. under Before Submitting a Federally-Funded Manuscript to a Journal). If the fee presents a significant barrier and you are in a position to change publishers, consider withdrawing your manuscript and publishing in a journal (e.g., a society publisher or university press) where fees aren’t required. Note: The agreement with your federal funder to provide them a license to your accepted manuscript takes first priority over any subsequent agreement with the journal publisher.

If you are committed to publishing in a journal that requires a fee, you have several options (all of which would be helpful to discuss with a campus librarian):

  • Reach out to the journal/publisher to discuss. If you’re finalizing the publication and there is a click through screen asking you if the publication is federally funded (which will then require payment), you can stop the process there and contact the journal/publisher. Remind them of your funder’s policy and that you are unable to pay for compliance. 
  • Reach out to your journal editor. Let them know you need to comply with your funder requirement, but are unable to pay the publishing fee for compliance. They may be able to request a fee waiver. 
  • Reach out to your funder to discuss available options. 
  • Move forward with depositing the author accepted manuscript into the agency designated repository without paying the publishing fee. Prior to going down this path, it is recommended you discuss with your research office, campus librarians, and/or campus counsel as your publishing agreement is a contract between you personally and your publisher. Failing to pay the required fee may be a breach of that contract.
  • Note: This guidance provides options to consider but is not legal advice. While we’re not aware of any publisher pursuing legal action to date against an author for failing to comply with a provision that conflicts with federal funding obligations, it is possible that some publishers could pursue this option. 

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Tip 3. Not sure, ask a librarian 

Reach out to your campus librarians. They are tremendous resources to help you understand funder policies, publisher requirements, publishing options, and how to manage any conflicting requirements.

► Longer-term options and opportunities for institutional change

Tip 1. Discuss within your institution

Have conversations with your department chair or others at your institution about the need to support federally funded researchers by crediting publication in journals that support no-cost compliance with funder policies.

Have conversations within your institution about making different types of research outputs publicly available (e.g., data and software), in the research evaluation, tenure and promotions processes. The HELIOS Open community could be a resource for those conversations. HELIOS Open is a cohort of colleges and universities committed to collective action to advance open scholarship and a more transparent, inclusive, and trustworthy research ecosystem across their campuses.

 

Tip 2. Discuss with publishing community

Have conversations with your journals/publishers about developing pathways to comply with funder policies without requiring fees. 

If you’re an editor and disagree with your journal’s policies around compliance, have conversations about changing their policies to allow for free compliance with funder requirements. If the publisher/journal is not amenable, consider following the model established by many other editorial boards that have left their publisher when their interests diverge for what’s best for that journal’s community. 

Consider supporting society publishers and university presses as they often don’t require payment for complying with funder policies. 

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