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NIH Public Access Policy

NIH Public Access Policy

What is the NIH Public Access Policy?

Under the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy all peer-reviewed articles arising from NIH-funded research are required by law to be submitted to PubMed Central, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the date of publication. The NIH has set up the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS) to facilitate this process.

Also when citing an article that was authored or co-authored by you or arose from your NIH award, (and that falls under this policy) in NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports, you must include the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID). If a PubMed Central reference number is not yet available, you should include the NIH Manuscript Submission system reference number (NIHMS ID) instead.

Principal Investigators and their institutions are responsible for ensuring all terms and conditions of awards are met. This includes the submission of articles that arise directly from their awards, even if they are not an author or co-author of the publication. The PI must make every member of the research team who might publish aware of this new policy and their need to comply.

Does this policy apply to me?

Yes, if your manuscript was generated by an NIH FY 2008 grant or cooperative agreement, or by a continuing NIH grant or cooperative agreement that is active in FY 2008, or for research funded by the NIH intramural program, or by an NIH contract awarded after April 7, 2008, and if the manuscript is accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008.

What should I do to comply with the NIH Open Access Policy?

  • Submit a letter from GWUMC's Office of Health Research with your manuscript. This letter advises the publisher that your manuscript is subject to the NIH Open Access policy.
  • Read all publications agreements carefully to be sure that the agreement permits you to comply with the policy. You can include suggested wording to the publisher's agreement to ensure that you can comply with the NIH Open Access Policy.
  • Ensure that your article is submitted to the NIHMS. Himmelfarb Library Staff can help you determine if the publisher will submit the manuscript for you, or help you submit the manuscript through the NIHMS.
  • On future NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports, include the PMCID or NIHMS ID in any citations for your published research which fell under the NIH Open Access Policy.

What is PubMed Central?

PubMed Central is the free NIH digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.

Does the journal publisher submit papers to PubMed Central on behalf of authors?

  • Some journal publishers make the final published article of every NIH-funded article publicly available in PubMed Central within 12 months of publication. For these journals, you do not need to do anything to fulfill the submission requirement of the NIH Public Access Policy. A list of these journals is available at:

http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm

  • Some journals will deposit peer-reviewed manuscript files on behalf of their authors through the NIHMS. When this happens, authors still have to provide the associated award information, and review and approve the article. The NIHMS will contact them by email to do so.
  • Some journal publishers leave everything to the author who must negotiate copyright with the publisher to allow them to submit their paper to PubMed Central and submit the paper through the NIHMS.

Do I have copyright clearance to submit my article to PubMed Central?

If a journal publisher does not submit NIH-funded manuscripts to PubMed Central on behalf of the author, it is critical that authors negotiate the right to submit their works to PubMed Central up front and avoid signing any agreements that would limit their right to put the work in PubMed Central. 

Authors should review publisher's policies and check there is a clause that allows for authors to submit their NIH-funded work to PubMed Central. Contact the publisher directly if their policy on compliance with the NIH Public Access policy is ambiguous or unavailable. To locate current publisher policies:

  • Review the publisher's copyright agreement form. The form may include a clause that allows for authors or third parties to submit manuscripts to PubMed Central in order to comply with the NIH Public Access policy.
  • Check the web site of the journal publisher. Often the web site will include information on the NIH Public Access Policy that is not on the publisher's copyright agreement form.
  • The SHERPA/RoMEO Directory of Publishers includes their opinion about whether a journal publisher allows for post-print (i.e. final draft post-refereeing) submission to PubMed Central, and includes a copy of the publisher's copyright agreement. Policies should be confirmed with the journal publisher.

The Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), in its advice on this issue, suggests Principal Investigators should ask authors to negotiate copyright clearance with the publisher by using the cover letter for author journal submission in:
Carroll, M. W. (2008) Complying with the National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy: copyright considerations and options - A Joint SPARC/Science Commons/ARL White Paper.  Appendix A.

GW authors may wish to contact the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel, if they have questions about copyright agreement terms, by calling 202-994-6503, or via email at gwlegal@gwu.edu.

The NIH suggests before signing any copyright agreement with a journal publisher, the author add an addendum that allows them to comply with the NIH Public Access Policy. The NIH suggests the following wording would be appropriate to use in the addendum: “Journal acknowledges that Author retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to the NIH upon acceptance for Journal publication, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication by Journal.�

GW authors must abide by relevant institutional policies including the Copyright Policy of the George Washington University, and the Use and Reproduction of Copyrighted Materials Policy.

What is the process for submitting a paper using the NIH Manuscript Submission System (NIHMS)?

  • The author or someone in their organization can log on to the NIHMS to submit a copy of the accepted peer-reviewed manuscript and supplemental material. Manuscripts and supplementary files in a wide range of electronic word-processing formats and TIFF, JPEG, GIF, and PDF files can be submitted.
  • The submitter designates the NIH funding that supported the manuscript.
  • The Principal Investigator (PI) of the designated funding approves the version of the article to be submitted, and affirms that copyright allows deposit to PubMed Central. The NIH requires you submit the final manuscript defined as the version accepted for publication that includes all the modifications made in response to the peer review process.
  • The NIHMS will convert the deposited files into a standard PubMed Central format, and will email the PI to review the PubMed Central-formatted manuscript to make any necessary corrections and approve its release. The final version must be approved by the author, not the proxy submitter if there is one, for the process to be completed.
  • The NIHMS will send the article to PubMed Central for public posting after the delay period specified during submission.

How do I obtain the PMCID or NIHMS ID for my paper to cite on future NIH applications, proposals, and progress reports?

You can find the PMCID by searching for your paper in PubMed Central. Principal Investigators will be emailed the PMCID reference number when the paper is published in PubMed Central. If the article is not yet in PubMed Central, PIs should use the NIHMS ID that appears in the PDF receipt they receive from the NIHMS.

Who can I consult for further information and help?

 

Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library | The George Washington University Medical Center
2300 Eye St., NW, Washington, DC 20037 | Phone: (202) 994-2850 | Fax: (202) 994-4343