Open-access fees rise to $12,850 for NIH-funded study in Nature Medicine

In 2025 a randomized clinical trial led by Elizabeth Selvin was published in Nature Medicine without any publication charge. The paper underwent peer review and editorial processing at no cost to the authors.

A year later, the same journal required a $12,850 open-access fee for another NIH-funded study to meet the 2024 NIH Public Access Policy that took effect on July 1, 2025. The fee was described as non-negotiable.

Selvin argues that research funded by taxpayers should be freely available and warns that steep open-access fees create barriers to public access.