Guides: Open Access: Grant Funding Public Access Mandates

Funder Mandates

Both the federal government and private funders require that grantees make their peer-reviewed publications publicly available. Additionally, many funders also require that the data from the grant funded work also be released. The charts below outline the known Government Agencies and known private funders, where the article needs to be deposited or under what copyright license, how long the article can be locked down (which is listed as the maximum embargo period), and the funder requirements to release the data.

Federal Grant Funders

Government Agency	Mandated Repository	Maximum Embargo Period	Data Solution
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)	PubMed Central	12 months	Discipline or data-type specific repository Researchers are encouraged to review NIH compiled list of such data repositories available
Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR)	PubMed Central	12 months	Scientific data repositories, data.gov registry
Center for Disease Control (CDC)	CDC Stacks, using NIH Manuscript Submission	12 months	Multiple solutions + data registry
Department of Energy	DOE PAGES	Zero-day embargo	Varies by office, appropriate repository
Department of Labor	None, but CC-BY	Unstated	Unstated
Department of Transportation	National Transportation Library (NTL)	12 months	Publicly accessible repository
Federal Drug Administration	Knowledge Commons	12 months	Disciplinary data repositories, where available
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)	World Bank’s Open Knowledge Repository	Zero-day embargo (effective Oct 1 2025)	Appropriate repository.
NASA	NASA branded PMC portal through NIH PMC	Zero-day embargo	NASA archives, or other repository
NIH	PubMed Central	Zero-day embargo (effective July 1 2025)	NIH supported scientific data repositories
NSF	NSF-PAR	Zero-day embargo	Repositories with Desirable Characteristics for Federally Funded Research
Smithsonian	Smithsonian Research Online	12 months	SRO, approved external, community-supported or discipline-specific repositories, or via CHORUS*
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)	None, but CC BY	Zero-day embargo	Refer to UKRI guidance and policies Preferred repositories include ESRC-supported UK Data Service and the NERC-supported Environmental Data Service
USDA	PubAg	Zero-day embargo (estimated effective Dec 25 2025)	Recognized repository that provides public access, persistent identifier, and preservation. Metadata catalog entry in Ag Data Commons

Private Funders

Private Funder	Article Solution (A)	Maximum Embargo Period	Data Solution (D)
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation	None, but prefer “maximal and appropriate openness” Institutional repository recommended	n/a	Appropriate repository
The American Heart Association	PubMed Central	12 months	AHA Approved Repository within 12 months
Autism Speaks	PubMed Central	12 months	Unstated
Bill Gates Foundation	Preprint posted in VeriXiv or AAM in PubMed Central	Zero-day embargo	Zenodo
Ford Foundation	None, but CC BY 4.0, Includes publications and white papers	n/a	n/a
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation	Institution or discipline specific repository	12 months, prefer immediately	Public Repository
Howard Hughes’ Medical Institute	None, but CC BY 4.0, Consider preprints on bioXiv	Prefer immediately	Public repository
World Bank	World Bank’s Open Knowledge Repository	18 months	Data sets for final manuscripts; Public repository
World Health Organization	Europe PubMed Central or PMC	Zero-day embargo	Appropriate open data repository, with a persistent identifier