NIH Faces Pressure to Disallow Taxpayer Funds for Journal Publication Fees as Public Comment Period Closes

Washington D.C. – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is facing calls to disallow the use of taxpayer dollars for academic journal publication fees, a practice that critics argue perpetuates artificial scarcity in scientific publishing. The public comment period for proposed changes to NIH's publication cost policies concluded on Monday, September 15, 2025, following a significant push from within the scientific community.Dr. Prachee Avasthi, a prominent voice in the debate, urged NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to take decisive action. "Right now is the best chance the scientific community has ever had to end the artificial scarcity of academic journals," Dr. Avasthi stated in a recent social media post, adding, "It’s time to unleash science." Her message highlighted the dual role publishers and scientists have played in maintaining the current system.The renewed debate comes as the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy, which took effect on July 1, 2025, mandates that all NIH-funded research papers be made publicly available in PubMed Central immediately upon publication, without embargo. While the policy clarifies that submission of Author Accepted Manuscripts to PubMed Central is free, it has also allowed for "reasonable costs associated with publication," including Article Processing Charges (APCs), to be included in grant budgets. However, some publishers have increasingly shifted to models requiring authors to pay substantial fees for open access.NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya announced in early July 2025 that the agency plans to implement a cap on allowable publication costs starting in Fiscal Year 2026. This move aims to establish clearer boundaries for the stewardship of taxpayer funds and address concerns about exorbitant APCs. The public comment period, which ended today, sought input on various scenarios, including potential caps ranging from $2,000 to $6,000 per publication, or even disallowing APC spending entirely from NIH grants.Analysis by the ScholCommLab indicates that current publishing practices often result in NIH-funded research appearing in journals with fees exceeding even the most generous proposed caps. For instance, a $6,000 cap would still leave APCs partially uncovered for 10% of papers in some high-profile journals, including those from major publishers like Nature and Cell, which can charge upwards of $11,000-$12,000. Critics of high APCs argue that these fees disproportionately benefit large for-profit publishers and create financial barriers for researchers.