Information
NIH Public Access Policy
Introduction
Recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) should be aware of a new reporting requirement (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-033.html) that went into effect on April 7, 2008. Principal investigators must ensure that electronic versions of any peer-reviewed manuscripts arising from NIH funding and accepted for publication on or after that date are deposited in PubMed Central (PMC), NIH's digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. Full-text of the articles will be made freely available to the public no later than 12 months after publication. Beginning May 25, 2008, anyone submitting an application, proposal, or progress report to NIH must include the PMC or NIH Manuscript Submission Reference Number when citing applicable articles that arise from their NIH-funded research.
Who is affected by the new reporting requirement?
The policy applies to you if your peer-reviewed journal article (including research reports and reviews) is based on work in any of the following categories:
- Directly funded by a NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008) or beyond;
- Directly funded by a contract signed on or after April 7, 2008;
- Directly funded by the NIH Intramural Program;
- If NIH pays your salary.
Complying with the new requirement
Address Copyright: Before you sign a publication agreement or similar copyright transfer agreement, make sure that the agreement allows the paper to be submitted to NIH in accordance with the Public Access Policy. UW’s Office of Sponsored Programs has provided a sample letter that may be used by UW researchers when negotiating contracts with journals: http://www.washington.edu/research/osp/forms/nihPubmedTemplate.doc.
The Carolina Population Center has developed a table that indicates whether select social science journals have copyright policies in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy. This resource is available at:
http://www.cpc.unc.edu/services/infoserv/library/nih_public_access_mandate/journals
What to submit: You (or someone in your organization) must deposit a copy of your final peer-reviewed manuscript of the article accepted for journal publication. That is, the version should include all modifications from the peer review process, but not the journal's authoritative copy of the paper, which may include their copy editing and formatting changes.
When to submit: Upon acceptance for publication.
How to submit: Go to http://www.nihms.nih.gov/, create an account, input grant PI, grant number, journal name, article title, manuscript file(s), and submit. A tutorial on the NIH Manuscript Submission (NIHMS) system is available at: http://www.nihms.nih.gov/web-help/index.html. After the manuscript is submitted, NIHMS will email the author and ask him/her to review and approve the submission. The author will also be given an option to embargo the paper for up to 12 months post-publication. The author and the submitter will receive a NIHMS ID number, and once it is available in PubMed Central, it will be assigned a PMC ID number.
The CSDE Information Core staff will submit pertinent manuscripts written by CSDE affiliates and fellows to PubMed Central. Information on this service is provided here.
Or
Publish in a journal that deposits all final published articles in PubMed Central (PMC) without author involvement. Some journals automatically deposit all NIH-funded final published articles in PubMed Central, to be made publicly available within 12 months of publication, without author involvement. See http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm for a list of the journals that will deposit your article.
Make arrangements to have the publisher deposit a specific final published article in PubMed Central. Some publishers will deposit an individual final published article in PubMed Central upon author request, and generally for a fee. See the list of publishers at http://http://publicaccess.nih.gov/select_deposit_publishers.htm
Cite PubMed Central ID Numbers: Effective May 25, 2008, Principal Investigators will need to cite the PMC ID or NIHMS ID numbers for any articles cited in progress reports, new applications, and renewals. These are only needed for articles accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008, but PMC ID numbers for articles already in PubMed Central may be included as well.
How the new reporting requirement will help you
The new NIH reporting requirement will benefit CSDE authors. The requirement ensures that your research results will be preserved in a state-of-the-art digital repository, and enable researchers and students to read and build on your work, regardless of their ability to subscribe to the journal in which the research is published. Moreover, the requirement provides an important opportunity to make published research funded by NIH and written by you accessible to all -- the public, health care providers, educators and scientists, among others. This improved access will help advance science and, ultimately, improve human health and well-being.
A short list of key FAQs on the Policy is here.
Please contact David Hyllegard, CSDE Information Core director, if you have any questions about the policy: Email or 206.543.9525
Acknowledgement: The organization and content of this document was modeled on one developed by Cornell University Library.
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