This document provides an overview of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy, which requires investigators funded by NIH to submit final peer-reviewed manuscripts to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after official publication. It defines a PubMed Identification Number (PMID) and PubMed Central Identification Number (PMCID), and outlines the policy's applicability and compliance responsibilities. The principal investigator is responsible for ensuring the final manuscript is submitted through one of four methods: publisher submission to PubMed Central, submission to NIH's manuscript submission system with publisher permission, direct submission to NIH's system, or publisher submission to NIH's system.