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The NIH Public Access Policy and You

NIH-funded researchers take note: as of 2008, the NIH Public Access Policy has been revised and becomes mandatory as a Term and Condition of Award for all NIH grants and cooperative agreements active in Fiscal Year 2008 or beyond (active after October 1, 2007), and for all NIH contracts awarded after April 7, 2008.

Learn more in our 5-minute narrated slideshow, "The NIH Public Access Policy: Don't Get Pinched!"

What does this policy require of me?

Depending on the situation, the policy may require NIH researchers to do one or more of the following:

1. Secure (or reserve) from their publishers the right to deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript of NIH-funded research articles into PubMed Central for public access.
2. Deposit the article into PubMed Central using the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS).
3. Include the PubMed Central ID (PMCID) in citations for deposited articles, when referencing them in NIH applications, proposals and progress reports.

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Am I subject to this policy's requirements?

If your article results from research funded by a Fiscal Year 2008 NIH grant or cooperative agreement, and the article is accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008, then you are most likely subject to requirements (1) and (2) above.

If you submit an NIH application, proposal or progress report due on or after May 25, 2008, you will be subject to requirement (3) above.

For details and exceptions, see this chart.**

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What must I do to comply?

A checklist in three parts:

Before you publish

• Determine if the journal deposits in PubMed Central automatically. Check this list of journals that participate in automatic submission of articles to PubMed Central in a way that is compliant with the NIH Public Access Policy. If you are publishing in a journal from that list, all you need to do is submit your article to the journal for publication; you need not do anything further to comply with the submission requirement, and you can skip ahead to the final task below.
  • If your journal is not in that list, continue with all tasks listed below.
    
    
• Review journal's Instructions to Authors. Before you submit the article for publication, review the journal's Instructions to Authors for any specific information or instructions related to the NIH Public Access Policy.
  • To preview the Instructions to Authors for over 3500 journals, use this directory of Instructions to Authors in the Health Sciences
  • To learn more about publishers' or journals' standard policies regarding publication, consult the SHERPA RoMEO database; in particular, check the "Mandated OA" section of the publisher's or journal's record in that database to see its policy with regard to the NIH Public Access Policy
    
    
• Submit for publication in the journal and in your submission, be sure to inform the journal that the article is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy.
  
  
• Review your publisher's copyright transfer or publication agreement to make sure it specifically allows the final peer-reviewed manuscript to be deposited in PubMed Central immediately upon acceptance for publication, and made available to the public in PubMed Central no later than 12 months after journal publication.
  • If the agreement does not clearly reserve or secure those rights, attach an Author Addendum using this NIH-recommended language before signing and returning the agreement. For a ready-to-print addendum using that language, download and print this document.**
  • If the publisher does not clearly agree to those terms, or if you have questions about how to retain or secure the necessary rights, contact the Office of Legal Affairs.
    
    

When your article is accepted for publication

• Check to see if the publisher requires you to add a statement to your manuscript. Some journals may require a statement to accompany the final peer-reviewed manuscript indicating that the manuscript is not the final published version of the article. If necessary, add the required statement to your manuscript before submitting to PubMed Central.
  
  
• Submit to PubMed Central. Once the article is accepted for publication, submit the final peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central, using the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS). NIH estimates that the NIHMS submission process should take between 3 and 10 minutes.
  • Follow the instructions in this overview or the tutorials found here.
  • When choosing the embargo period (the delay before the article is made available to the public), make sure it agrees with your publication agreement, but is no greater than 12 months from publication.
    
    

When you prepare NIH applications, proposals and progress reports

• Cite with PMCID. When citing articles in NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports after May 25, 2008, include the unique PubMed Central ID (PMCID) at the end of the citation, as follows:

  Embry A, Hinojosa E, Orihuela CJ. 2007. Regions of Diversity 8, 9 and 13 contribute to Streptococcus pneumoniae virulence. BMC Microbiology 7(80). PMCID: 2045101.

  • Note: the PMCID is not the same as the PubMed ID (PMID).
  • To find the PMCID for a given article, use PubMed Central Search. The PMCID for each article will be shown in the search results (but not currently on the Abstract or Full Text pages) for PMC articles.
  • Another way to find the PMCID is to look in the PubMed Central URL for the article; if you see artid= followed by a number, that number is the PMCID. (For example, the URL for the article cited above is http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2045101).
  • UT Health Science Center librarians can assist you with locating the PMCID for articles you need to cite.
  • If the PMCID has not yet been assigned to an article you need to reference, use the NIHMS ID -- the reference number assigned when the article was submitted through the NIHMS (see above).
    
    

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Glossary of Terms

author addendum:

A legal instrument used by authors to modify the terms of a publication or copyright transfer agreement, generally with the intent of retaining ownership of certain rights to the material for the author.

contract:

An award instrument establishing a binding legal procurement relationship between NIH and a recipient obligating the latter to furnish a product or service defined in detail by NIH and binding the Institute to pay for it.

cooperative agreement:

Any agreement between one or more NIH laboratories and one or more non-Federal parties under which the Public Health Service, through its laboratories, provides personnel, services, facilities, equipment, or other resources with or without reimbursement (but not funds to non-Federal parties) and the non-Federal parties provide funds, personnel, services, facilities, equipment, or other resources toward the conduct of specified research or development efforts which are consistent with the missions of the laboratory.

final peer-reviewed manuscript:

The Investigator's final manuscript of a peer-reviewed article accepted for journal publication, including all modifications from the peer review process.

grant:

Financial assistance mechanism providing money, property, or both to an eligible entity to carry out an approved project or activity. A grant is used whenever the NIH Institute or Center anticipates no substantial programmatic involvement with the recipient during performance of the financially assisted activities.

PubMed Central:

PubMed Central is an archive of full-text biomedical journal articles available online without a fee. Articles on PubMed Central contain links to other scientific databases such as GenBank and PubChem. Articles collected under the Public Access Policy are archived on PubMed Central.

PubMed Central ID (PMCID):

A unique reference number assigned to each article deposited in PubMed Central. This number is different from the PubMed ID (PMID). The PMCID must be included in citations of articles deposited under the Public Access Policy, in NIH applications, proposals and progress reports submitted for the May 25, 2008 deadline or thereafter.

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Where can I find more help and information?

Here are some contacts that can help with compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy:

• If you need help or answers regarding policy compliance, please contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.
• If you need help negotiating, securing or retaining the rights to deposit your material in PubMed Central from your publisher, please contact the Office of Legal Affairs.
• If you need help with the material or links on this page, or locating further information about the Public Access Policy, contact the Briscoe Library Information Desk at (210) 567-2450 or via email, or Luke Rosenberger at (210) 567-2486 or via email.

The following links may help you more fully understand the Public Access Policy:

• Official Notice: Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research
• NIH's Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Public Access Policy
• NIHMS Submission Process overview and visual tutorials
• NIH Public Access Policy: Guide for Research Universities from the Association of Research Libraries

** Thanks to the Bernard Becker Library at Washington University St Louis for granting us permission to link to these documents at their site.