NIH Public Access Policy

These journals post the final published version of all peer-reviewed NIH-funded articles to PubMed Central (PMC) no later than 12 months after publication without author involvement.

1. Track the paper and ensure compliance
   1. Make sure the journal knows this paper is supported by NIH funding, and falls under the NIH public access policy.
   2. Upon acceptance for publication:
      1. Enter the citation into your Commons-linked My Bibliography as a ‘forthcoming’ paper.
      2. To identify the paper as a Method A journal in My Bibliography, use the autofill settings to enter the journal name. (Check the My Bibliography FAQ for detailed instructions.)
      3. Ensure your collaborators can also track the paper by suggesting it to your co-authors and the principal investigators (PI) of any supporting awards. Each PI will have to link the paper to their award.
2. Link the paper to the published record

   My Bibliography will link the forthcoming paper to the published record automatically when the paper is published, provided that the forthcoming citation is similar to the published citation. See the My Bibliography FAQ if you need additional assistance.

3. Reporting the paper to NIH

   For Type 5 progress reports, My NCBI will generate a citation in the correct format for you in a PDF report and in the publication section of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR). To manually cite the paper on NIH applications, proposals and reports, including renewal applications (type 2s) and biosketches:

   • For papers published more than 3 months before an application, proposal and report is submitted: List the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) at the end of the full journal

   • For papers in press (often listed as “[epub ahead of print]”), or published within 3 months of when an application, proposal or report is submitted: “PMC Journal - In Process” or the PMCID at the end of the full citation.

These publishers and journals have an agreement with NIH to post individual final published articles in PubMed Central (PMC) on a case-by-case basis. These journals do not automatically post every NIH-funded paper in PMC. Rather, the author can choose to arrange with the journal to post a specific article; this usually involves choosing the journal’s fee-based open access option for publishing that article.

1. Track the paper and ensure compliance

   Awardees using this submission method are responsible for ensuring that the journal posts the article to PMC to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after publication, in accordance with the NIH Public Access Policy.

   • Enter the citation into your Commons-linked My Bibliography as a ‘forthcoming’ paper.
   • To identify the paper as a Method B, click ‘edit status’ in My Bibliography and select Method B in the popup window. (Check the My Bibliography FAQ for detailed instructions).
   • Ensure your collaborators can also track the paper by suggesting it to your co-authors and the principal investigators (PI) of any supporting awards. Each PI will have to link the paper to their award.
2. Link the paper to the published record
   • My Bibliography will link the forthcoming paper to the published record automatically when the paper is published, provided that the forthcoming citation is similar to the published citation. See the My Bibliography FAQ if you need additional assistance.
   • Within three months of publication, your paper must appear in your My Bibliography collection or Other Citations with a PMCID to comply with the public access policy. If not, please contact your publisher and ensure they will deposit the final published paper to PMC as soon as possible.
3. Reporting the paper to NIH

   For Type 5 progress reports, My NCBI will generate a citation in the correct format for you in a PDF report and in the publication section of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR). To manually cite the paper on NIH applications, proposals and reports, including renewal applications (type 2s) and biosketches:

   • For papers published more than 3 months before an application, proposal and report is submitted: List the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) at the end of the full journal
   • For papers in press (often listed as “[epub ahead of print]”), or published within 3 months of when an application, proposal or report is submitted: “PMC Journal - In Process” or the PMCID at the end of the full citation. 

In Method C, the author or a delegate deposits the final peer-reviewed manuscript into the NIH Manuscript Submission system (NIHMS). In Method D, the publisher deposits the final peer-reviewed manuscript into the NIHMS. Regardless of who starts and manages the submission process, authors and awardees are responsible for ensuring that the final, peer-reviewed manuscript is deposited into the NIHMS upon acceptance for publication. Steps 1 and 2, described below, need to be completed within 90 days of the article’s official date of publication in order to be compliant with the NIH public access policy. The NIHMS has a video overview, illustrated submission tutorials and an FAQ.

1. At the time of acceptance
   1. Enter the citation of the paper into your Commons-linked My NCBI account as a ‘forthcoming’ paper.
   2. Ensure that the manuscript is submitted to NIHMS, either by your publisher (Method D) or by yourself (Method C). Method C submissions can be started from within My Bibliography.
      Note: If your publisher is on the list of Method D Publishers, they may perform the initial deposit for you. Please confirm the deposit with the publisher as you are still responsible for ensuring the manuscript is deposited.
   3. If necessary, manually add the NIHMSID to the corresponding citation in My NCBI bibliography. An NIHMSID is required to show compliance in My NCBI.
2. After the manuscript is submitted to NIHMS
   1. The assigned author in the NIHMS system must complete the following steps for a citation to be assigned a PMCID:
      • Approve the initial submission for processing in the NIHMS system.
      • Link the paper to all NIH awards that directly supported it. The Principal Investigators of these awards will be contacted by the NIHMS for confirmation, and the citation will appear in their My Bibliography collection. PIs can move papers to the Other Citations collection if they wish.
      • Review and approve the PMC-ready web version for inclusion in PubMed Central after the submitted files have been converted.
        Note: The assigned author will receive an email notifying him/her when action is required in NIHMS. Any author, or even a Principal Investigator if they are in a position to verify the content, can serve as the assigned author. See the NIHMS FAQ to change the author assignment.
      • My Bibliography will automatically link the forthcoming citation to the published record, and list the PMCID when it is available. A PMCID must be obtained within 90 days of the official date of publication in order to be compliant with the NIH public access policy.
3. Reporting the paper to NIH

   For Type 5 progress reports, My NCBI will generate a citation in the correct format for you in a PDF report and in the publication section of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR). The RPPR draws from every paper in the PI’s My Bibliography collection, and any paper linked to the award in the Other Citations collection. To manually cite the paper on NIH applications, proposals and reports, including renewal applications (type 2s) and biosketches: 1. For papers published more than 3 months before an application, proposal and report is submitted: List the PubMed Central reference number (PMCID) at the end of the full journal citation. A PMCID is the only way to demonstrate compliance for these papers. 2. For papers in press (often listed as “[epub ahead of print]”), or published within 3 months of when an application, proposal or report is submitted: provide a valid NIH Manuscript Submission System reference number (NIHMSID) or PMCID at the end of the full citation.