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NIH Public Access Policy Publications

Background

The FY2007 omnibus appropriations legislation, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2007, included the following provision:

“The Director of the National Institutes of Health shall require that all investigators funded by the NIH submit or have submitted for them to the National Library of Medicines PubMed Central an electronic version of their final, peer-reviewed manuscripts upon acceptance for publication, to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication: Provided, That the NIH shall implement the public access policy in a manner consistent with copyright law.”

he new National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy became effective April 7, 2008. This policy calls for mandatory deposit in PubMed Central (PMC) of peer reviewed electronic manuscripts upon acceptance for publication. PMC is the NIH digital archive of full-text, peer-reviewed journal articles. Its content is publicly accessible and integrated with other databases.

Policy Information

  1. The NIH Public Access Policy applies to all articles that:
    1. Are peer-reviewed, k
    2. Are accepted for publication in a journal on or after April 7, 2008,
    3. Arises from any direct funding from an NIH grant or cooperative agreement active in Fiscal Year 2008 or beyond, or;
    4. Any direct funding from an NIH contract signed on or after April 7, 2008, or;
    5. Any direct funding from the NIH Intramural Program or; an NIH employee. Institutions and investigators are responsible for ensuring that any publishing or copyright agreements concerning submitted articles fully comply with this Policy.
  2. The final, peer-reviewed manuscript includes all graphics and supplemental materials that are associated with the article. The author is responsible to make sure that what is sent for publication is the author's final manuscript of a peer-reviewed article, including all modifications from the peer review process. In addition, the author is also responsible for making sure what is uploaded into PMC is the journal's authoritative copy of the article, including all modifications from the publishing peer review process, copyediting and stylistic edits, and formatting changes. NOTE: The Principal Investigator on the funded grant is still responsible to make sure the final manuscript is published even if the Principal Investigator is not one of the authors.
  3. Beginning May 25, 2008, anyone submitting an application, proposal or progress report to the NIH must include the PMC or NIH Manuscript Submission reference number when citing applicable articles that arise from their NIH funded research. This policy includes applications submitted to the NIH for the May 25, 2008 due date and subsequent due dates.