NIH Public Access Policy Information

Background

The NIH’s Public Access Policy takes effect on April 7, 2008. Under this policy, the NIH will require all NIH funded investigators to submit or have submitted electronic versions of final peer-reviewed manuscripts. The final electronic versions must be publically available no later than 12 months after the official date of publication. In addition, as of May 25, 2008, all NIH applications, proposals and progress reports must include PubMed Central reference numbers for articles arising from NIH funding.

How this Impacts UC Denver Researchers

The NIH policy places responsibility for compliance on the institutions and its investigators of the institution. This includes assuring that copyright agreements allow for submission of an investigator’s manuscript to the NIH’s PubMed Central.

How to Submit

Investigators can either submit to certain journals which automatically submit to PubMed Central. A list of journals that submit directly is PubMed Central is available at this link: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm.

  1. The journal must be informed of the submission requirement.
  2. Ensure that the publication agreement allows for submission to PubMed Central as required by the Public Access Policy.
  3. Once the article is accepted for publication, submit the article to NIH.

Additional Resources

NIH Public Policy Mandate Brown Bag PowerPoint

Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.nihms.nih.gov/faq.html

Journals that Submit Articles to PubMed Central: http://publicaccess.nih.gov/submit_process_journals.htm

NIH Overview of Public Access Policy:
http://publicaccess.nih.gov/index.htm

Notice of Revised Policy on Enhancing Public Access to Archived Publications Resulting from NIH-Funded Research:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-08-033.html

UCD Health Sciences Library Website: Offers additional resources and guidance on compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy; staff are available to assist with questions