NIH Public Access Policy Requirements

What is the policy?

• 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 Medicine’s 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.

Does it apply to me?

• Peer-reviewed articles accepted for publication on or after April 7, 2008
• Articles resulting from NIH-funded research, whether the author is the PI or another member of the project team
  
• Projects receiving NIH direct funding in fiscal year 2008, including sub-awards
  
• The PI is responsible for ensuring that all project staff comply with the policy

What do I have to do?

PRI researchers: see our step by step guide to complying with the policy

Before you publish:

• If you publish in a journal that submits articles to PubMed Central on behalf of authors, you do not need to do anything.
• If you publish in a journal whose publishing agreement allows for deposit of manuscripts in PubMed Central within 12 months of publication, you will need to deposit your manuscript in PubMed Central when it is accepted.
• If you publish in a journal whose standard publishing agreement or copyright transfer agreement does not allow for deposit in PubMed Central within 12 months of publication, you will need to inform the journal that your article is subject to the NIH Public Access Policy when you submit it, and attach an addendum to the publishing agreement you sign. Model addenda:
• Penn State Hershey Copyright Addendum (PDF)
• Penn State Faculty Senate Resolution to Endorse the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Statement on Publishing Agreements (PDF)
• NIH suggested language

When your manuscript is accepted:

• If the journal does not submit manuscripts to PubMed Central automatically, you will need to deposit the final peer-reviewed manuscript upon acceptance. Use the NIH Manuscript Submission System or PRI's Information Core can deposit it for you.
  

When you cite your NIH-funded work:

• When you cite articles arising from NIH-funded research and covered by the Public Access Policy in an application, proposal, or progress report submitted to NIH on or after May 25, 2008, you must include the PMCID.