Immediate Access to Research

"This policy ensures that HHMI scientists promptly share their research as preprints with no restrictions on subsequent use of the publication. HHMI’s 2022 Open Access to Publications policy has been successful in ensuring that nearly all published HHMI research is free to read and reuse. However, this has been accomplished through the traditional journal publication route, which is associated with opaque selection procedures, high open access fees, and lengthy publication delays. Shifting the focus to preprints addresses these challenges and encourages a more transparent scholarly ecosystem in which researchers have more control over dissemination of their scholarship. In light of this shifted focus, the policy also defines how HHMI research budgets may be used to support manuscript-related services offered by scientific publishers....

This policy is effective for articles submitted for publication to preprint servers or journals on or after January 1, 2026....

HHMI scientists subject to this policy must make original research articles that represent major contributions from their laboratories publicly available as initial and revised preprints (as defined in the Glossary of terms). These preprints must be deposited on a designated preprint server under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license....

Beginning January 1, 2026, HHMI budgets can no longer be used to pay article processing charges (APCs) at hybrid journals (definitions below). HHMI budgets can continue to pay APCs at fully open access journals until further notice...."