What Does Zero-Embargo Public Access Mean? 

US funding agencies are increasingly requiring researchers to make articles resulting from federal funding available to the public immediately upon the article's publication (see this Library webpage about public access policies); this is called zero-embargo public access. Previous funder policies allowed for a 12-month delay/embargo between publication and public access. Funding agencies typically require compliance to occur by depositing a copy of the article into a specified repository (e.g. PMC for NIH, PAR for NSF, etc.).

This webpage lists journal policies around zero-embargo public access for several journals where Caltech authors commonly publish. Journals generally fall into three groups:

1. The journal allows the accepted (not journal-formatted) version of an article to be deposited in the funder's repository. No fee is required.
2. All articles from the journal are immediately available to the public (open access). Journals in this category typically charge a fee to publish all articles, no matter the funding source.
3. The journal does not allow for zero-embargo public access unless the authors pay a fee for an article to be made immediately publicly available (open access). All other articles are not available to the public unless the person/university has a subscription to the journal.

On this page, journal policies are listed by general subject area. The provided links go to the journal webpage with public access compliance information. If you have a question about a journal that is not on this list, please email library@caltech.edu and we would be happy to look up the journal's policies.

[This page is a work in progress: 2025-09-15]

Interdisciplinary

Biology and Biological Engineering

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

Engineering and Applied Sciences

Geology and Planetary Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Physics, Math, and Astronomy