Nature Portfolio's License to Publish permits authors to self-archive the accepted version of their manuscript in PubMed Central or other appropriate funding body's archive; their institution's repositories; and, if they wish, on their personal websites. In all cases, the manuscript can be made publicly accessible six months after publication.
Nature Portfolio has not required authors of original research articles to transfer copyright since 2002. Our policies are explained in detail on the License to Publish page.
Manuscript Deposition Service
Several funding bodies and institutions have mandates that require authors to self-archive manuscripts in publicly accessible archives. In July 2008, Nature Portfolio launched its Manuscript Deposition Service. This free service helps authors fulfil a number of funder and institutional mandates, by depositing authors’ accepted manuscripts to PubMed Central on their behalf.
Where research has been supported by the relevant funders, Nature Portfolio's Manuscript Deposition Service is available to authors publishing original research articles in Nature, the Nature research titles and many of the society and academic journals published by Nature Portfolio.
Our Manuscript Deposition Service enables authors to meet the open access or public access policies of various participating funders, making it simple and free for researchers to comply.