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NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
PUBLIC ACCESS POLICY

Guide to Getting Started
September 2008

Who is covered? NIH-funded researchers
What is covered? Journal manuscripts authored by NIH-funded researchers and based upon NIH-funded research.
When? Manuscripts accepted for publication April 7, 2008, and later must be submitted to PubMed Central upon acceptance for publication to be made publicly available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication.
Why? “The NIH Public Access Policy ensures that the public has access to the published results of NIH funded research…To help advance science and improve human health….” (from NIH Public Access web page)
How? Read on...

 

Definitions

PubMed:
a service of the National Library of Medicine that includes over 18 million citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950s (this database has bibliographic citations, abstracts, and links to full-text, some of which are open access and some of which require subscriptions)
PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID):
a number assigned to each citation that appears in PubMed. The number appears at the end of the abstract (e.g., PMID:17404809)
PubMed Central (PMC):
the NIH’s free digital archives of biomedical and life sciences journal literature (this has full-text articles; all are open access)
PubMed Central Identification Number (PMCID):
a number assigned to articles in PubMed Central (e.g., PMCID 2408855). Authors must cite the PMCID of their NIH-funded papers in all NIH applications, proposals, or progress reports, effective May 25, 2008. This requirement applies only to articles authored or co-authored by the investigator or arising from the investigator’s award.

NIH Manuscript Submission Steps

1. Ensure you have the right to deposit the article in PMC

  • Read the journal’s copyright release carefully and be sure it allows you to deposit your article in PMC.

    "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." (suggested wording from the NIH FAQ and acceptable to SIU Legal Counsel): http://publicaccess.nih.gov/FAQ.htm#c3 )

2. Deposit and approve

  • Manuscripts are deposited using the NIH Manuscript Submission System (http://www.nihms.nih.gov/ )
  • Submissions can be made via eRA Commons (Extramural PI) or MyNCBI (third party submitters: lab or office staff, etc.
  • Tutorials on the deposit process are available (http://www.nihms.nih.gov/help/#slideshow )
  • Before beginning the submission process, you will need the title of your manuscript, the journal title, and the files containing your manuscript. These files may be Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, etc. The NIHMS process will prepare a PDF and Web version from the files you deposit.
  • If a third party is doing the deposit for you, they will need all of the items above, plus your name and your grant number.
  • The NIHMS system will take you through the deposit process, which takes about 10 minutes. Navigation buttons at the bottom right of the screen take you to the next step. You can "save and edit" at any stage or “cancel submission” at any stage.
  • You will enter the journal title and manuscript title.  Journal titles are prepopulated with journal titles included in PubMed.
  • If you are doing the deposit yourself using your eRA Commons login, your grant information will already be available for selection.
  • Upload your article files. For each file, you indicate “Type” (choices are Manuscript Text, Figure, Table, Supplementary Data); “Label” (this should follow the convention of your manuscript, e.g., Fig 1; Table 2, etc.), and “Name” (the file name, which attaches very much like an e-mail attachment). Click “Upload Files”.
  • You will go through a process to approve your files.  Review the PDF that is presented to you.
  • Lastly, you will be asked to review and agree with a submission statement.  This statement confirms that the article is a result of NIH funded research and that you have the right to deposit it.
  • Make a note of the NIHMS reference number (NIHMS ID) that is assigned to the manuscript during the deposit process.  This number can be used in lieu of the PMCID for reporting purposes, until the PMCID is assigned.
  • At this point, you are done with the submission process.  You will receive an e-mail when the Web version of your article is ready for your review.  If the publisher or a third party are depositing for you, you will also receive an e-mail asking you to review the Web version.  It may be several weeks before the article is ready for your to review.

3. Set the embargo period

  • You will set the release period to PubMed Central as part of the submission process.  The delay interval may be determined by your publisher’s requirement and can vary from immediately to 12 months.
  • If the publisher does not restrict the delay, you can make your article available “immediately.”

4. Properly cite PMCID in future NIH grant documentation

  • A PMCID number will be assigned to each article when it is successfully submitted to PMC. The PMCID will appear in the lower right hand corner below the abstract in the PubMed entry. If the paper is not publicly available yet, you may use the NIHMS reference number (NIHMS ID) that was assigned to the article during the deposit process.
  • How can I tell if an article already has a PMCID (I’m not the first author; I think the publisher already submitted it, etc.)? Search the article in PubMed and get the PubMed ID, enter that in the PMID : PMCID Converter (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/pmctopmid )

Resources

Author Rights:

Manuscript Submissions:

Journal / Publisher Policies

NIH Public Access Policy