NIH Public Access Policy Compliance
Information

NIH Public Access Policy
The NIH
Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the
published results of NIH funded research. It requires scientists to submit
final peer-reviewed journal manuscripts that arise from NIH funds to the
digital archive PubMed Central upon
acceptance for publication. To help advance science and improve
human health, the Policy requires that these papers are accessible to the
public on PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.
As of April 7, 2008:
NIH-funded investigators are required to submit (or have submitted for them)
their final, peer-reviewed manuscript to PubMed Central (PMC) upon
acceptance of publication to be made publicly available within 12 months of
publication. This policy applies to manuscripts arising from NIH-funded research that have been accepted for publication on or after April 7,
2008.
As of May 25, 2008:
NIH applications, proposals and progress reports must include the PubMed
Central reference number (PMCID) when citing
an article that falls under the policy
and is authored or co-authored by the investigator, or arose from the
investigator's NIH award. This policy includes applications, proposals and
progress reports submitted to the NIH on or after May 25, 2008.
All manuscripts added to PubMed Central are assigned a unique identifier
called a PubMed Central reference number (PMCID). The PMCID is a unique number
to PMC that is assigned to the submitted manuscript after the final quality
assurance check.
How to Comply
1. Address Copyright: Ensure your publishing agreement allows
the paper to be posted to PubMed Central in accordance with the NIH Public
Access Policy.
2. Submit Papers: Submit papers to PubMed Central if the publisher
has not.
3.
Cite Papers: Include the PMCID at the end of
the full citation.
PubMed Central is the U. S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. The PMCID is
not the same as the PubMed Identifier number (PMID). NIH-funded
authors should use the PMCID, not the PMID, in order to comply with the NIH
Public Access Policy.
See the NIH Public Access web page for instructions
including Frequently Asked
Questions. Authors may use whichever method is most appropriate for them
and consistent with their publishing agreements. Click here for summary of
information about journals from the NIH.
Deposit a Manuscript through the NIHMS system:
In the event that the author has to make the deposit, go to the NIH Manuscript
Submission System and use the eRA
Commons account login. If the manuscript has been submitted by a
publisher, third party or by one of the authors, the manuscript will be
awaiting PMC review. A slide show can take you through the process.
Note: NIHMS accounts will be kept separate between login routes. For
example, manuscripts that are submitted via the NIH login will not be viewable
if you were to subsequently log in through an eRA Commons account.
Citation Compliance Summary Box:
Citation compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy is
demonstrated by the following:
Using the PMCID (PubMed Central reference number) when
it is available.
Format: "PMCID: PMC1234567"
Example: Canaran P, Buckler ES, Glaubitz JC,
Stein L, Sun Q, Zhao W, Ware D. 2008. Panzea: an update on new content and
features. Nucleic Acids Research 36 (Database Issue):
D1041-3. PMCID: PMC2238995
If the PMCID is not yet assigned, compliance can be
demonstrated by:
(1) Showing the NIHMS ID (NIH Manuscript Submission
system reference number) within 3 months after publication. The
NIHMS ID is assigned to a manuscript when it is submitted through NIHMS by
a journal publisher, the author, or a third party.
Format: "NIHMSID: NIHMS12345"*
(2) For final published articles that are in the process
of being submitted to PubMed Central directly by journals
that cooperate with NIH in submitting all NIH-funded final published
articles for free; and by journals
that submit NIH-funded final published articles for a fee, use:
Format: "PMC Journal - In Process"*
*PMCID should be put
in place once it becomes available.
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Where to Locate the PMCID
In PubMed:
Once on the "Abstract" display,
you will find the PMCID below the citation/abstract on the right hand corner.
This is the number to include on NIH proposals, applications and progress
reports.

In PubMed Central:

In obtaining the PMCID, an embargo period is assigned by the author or publisher, meaning the submission process at PMC is completed but the full text will not be available for free public viewing in PMC until the expiration of the embargo period.
PubMed Central Searches
In the PMC database Website, PMCID reference number will be noted
on the search results page only after full text is available for free public
viewing.
PMID: PMCID Converter
PubMed has a converter
between the PMID, PMCID, and NIHMS ID, if they exist. See page image below.

What to Do if the PMCID is
Not Yet Available
If the PMCID is not yet assigned to the manuscript, there
are two other means of demonstrating compliance with the NIH Public Access
Policy:
- NIHMS ID
- "PMC Journal - In Process"
Both of these are intended to be used as temporary means of
demonstrating compliance until the PMCID is available. They can be used in NIH
applications, proposals and progress reports, and in responses to emails from
NIH Program Officers.
Library
Help
The CSHL Library is available to help locate PMCIDs, and customize personal
EndNote libraries to store PMCIDs for bibliographic display and citations. The
Library offers an on-site submission assistance service for all CSHL authors.
Contact the Library:
This information was last updated on 11-30-2009