NIH Public Access Policy

The NIH Public Access Policy requires that an electronic copy of the final, peer-reviewed version of all articles accepted for publication that arise from funding--either in part or in whole--supplied by the National Institutes of Health be submitted to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central database to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication.

Key dates --

April 7, 2008: Compliance with the Policy is required for all active NIH grants and contracts awarded on or after this date.

May 25, 2008: Beginning on this date, NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports must include the PubMed Central reference number when citing a paper that falls under this Policy and is authored or co-authored by the investigator.

Steps to comply with the Policy:

1. Copyright -- when considering a copyright transfer or other publication agreement to allow your paper to be published, make sure that agreement allows your article to be submitted to the NIH/PubMed Central.

2. To submit the paper --

-Many journals will submit the final version of your article for you--see http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm for a list of these journals.

-If your article is being published in a journal not on the above list --

-When submitting your manuscript, inform the journal that the final, peer-reviewed version of your paper is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy.

-As noted above, make sure that any copyright transfer or publication agreement allows the final version of your paper to be submitted to the NIH.

-Then, submit the final, peer-reviewed version of your article to the NIH at the time your paper is accepted for publication. The paper can be submitted online at http://www.nihms.nih.gov/. More information about the submission process can be found at http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process.htm.

Questions or to get help:

For further information about the Policy or assistance with depositing your manuscript in PubMed Central, please contact Kevin Engel (x4234; engelk@grinnell.edu), Richard Fyffe (x3351; fyffe@grinnell.edu), or Cecilia Knight (x3368; knight@grinnell.edu)

Key points:

The law -- http://publicaccess.nih.gov/policy.htm

PubMed Central -- http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/

Citing papers:

Beginning May 25, 2008, all papers that arose out of your NIH funding and that are cited in your NIH applications, proposals, or progress reports must include a PMCID (PubMed Central reference number) or, if that has not yet been issued, a NIHMSID (manuscript submission system reference number). See publicaccess.nih.gov/FAQ.htm#c1 (section C, numbers 6-9) for examples and further information.

Further questions:

For more complete information about the Policy, see http://publicaccess.nih.gov/FAQ.htm.